001Morning, if everyone can kindly take your seats, we can begin the meeting. President Harden, before you begin today's meeting, I would like to read a few announcements. Good morning. Welcome to the December 18th, 2025 Board Meeting. Before we start the meeting, I would like to share a few safety points and next meeting announcements. Please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is a door which you used to enter this morning. If you are leaving the room, please use this door. The restrooms are outside the boardroom doors to your left. During the meeting, we ask that you keep all aisles and exits clear. If you need any assistance during the meeting, please wave the attention of one of our security officers. Please mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings. The next ARC meeting
002is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The next Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The ARC and Board meetings will be held at 42 West Madison Street Garden Level Boardroom. For details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings and to learn about the speaker lottery process, please visit the Chicago Board of Education website, cpsboe.org. If you have any questions about registration or public participation, please contact the Board office for assistance. Thank you for joining us today. President Harden, we are now ready for you to begin the meeting. Good morning, everyone. Morning. Welcome to the Chicago Board of Education meeting. Today is December 18th, 2025. We are holding today's Board meeting in the boardroom at the CPS Loop office, 42 West Madison Street
003Garden Level. I would like to note that Board members, honorary student Board member, 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 Shawn M. Harden. On behalf of my fellow Board members, thank you for joining us today. The regular meeting of Thursday, December 18th, 2025 is hereby called to order. Board Secretary, please call the roll. Thank you. Member Lozano? Here. Member Lopez? Present. Member Velez? Present. Member Boyle? Here. Member Wallace? Present. Member Custer? Present. Member Pope? Here. Member Rosenfeld? Here. Member Rivas? Present. Member Brown? Present. Member Real Sierra? Present. Member Bannon? Present. Member Gutierrez? Present. Member Biggs? Present. Member Velazquez Cura? Present. Member Boles? Present. Member Zackor? Present. Member DeBerry? Present. President Harden? Present. We have 19 members
004present. We do have a quorum. I'd also like to recognize Dr. Macklin King, interim Superintendent Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Barton, Acting General Counsel, Dr. Alfonso Carmona, Acting Chief Education Officer, Charles Mayfield, Chief Operating Officer. Uh thank you. The order of the meeting will be as follows. We'll begin with honoring excellence, CEO remarks, committee updates, student round table presentation. We'll begin with public participation. We'll go to recess, reconvene from recess, then there'll be a presentation on academic updates, a discussion of public agenda items. We'll vote on public agenda items. We'll go into the closed session, reconvene from closed session, and then finally adjourn. Chief Carmona, please proceed with honoring excellence. Uh thank you, President Harden. Good morning, Board members, uh Dr. King, and members of the CPS community. In the honoring excellence section of today's meeting,
005we are excited to recognize the powerful impact of our district's 25 curiosity classrooms, located primarily on Chicago's South and West sides. Uh these learning environments provide students in pre-K through second grade with hands-on, sensory-rich uh experiences. The materials used in these classrooms promote problem-solving, self-expression, and creativity. They also give our youngest learners the chance to share their ideas and discoveries with their teachers and with each other. All of this complements our district's growing focus on science, technology, engineering, and the arts, as well as math, or what we call as STEM concepts. I'll now turn things over to Leslie McKinley, our Chief of Early Childhood Education, to share more about the impact of our curiosity classrooms. Thank you, Chief Carmona. We are grateful to have the opportunity to talk about our curiosity classrooms with you today.
006Our five-year vision really highlights uh the need to put a stake in the ground around daily learning experiences. The daily learning experiences for every child should be rigorous, joyful, and equitable, as listed. And our early learning priority, it talks about the commitment to ensure that high-quality early childhood experiences and comp- comprehensive learning opportunities for students in preschool through second grade is available. Our curiosity classrooms provide a welcoming, flexible space where students have the opportunity to wonder, to observe, to question, to test, to fail, and most importantly, they have the opportunity to try again. Curiosity classrooms are a true exemplar of our aspirations for the daily learning experience for every young learner here in Chicago Public Schools. We are especially proud to spotlight students, staff, and families from two of our curiosity classroom sites that are
007here today. Ellington Elementary School in Austin, and Nicholson STEM Academy in Englewood. You can also see, cuz I know they stole the show when they came in, we have We have our students here today. Our students are holding objects directly from their curiosity classrooms. We We do want to pass some around for you to explore during the presentation. The office of early childhood selected these two schools along with 23 others um based off of a couple of criteria. One was the opportunity index. The other consideration was the space that was available within each elementary school. We also took into account student interest. Ensuring that we are prioritizing and investing in communities that had historically been disinvested in. Our goal is that curiosity classrooms are not only a catalyst for STEM learning, but there is opportunity
008to build strong community partnerships with families and also strengthen that home-school connection. I would now like to have uh you take a peek of a brief video that highlights the amazing work that happens within our curiosity spaces and it'll give you a small window into the teaching and learning that is happening within these spaces. So, when I'll queue the video. [Music] The goal of the curiosity classroom is really to bring informal learning, curiosity, and in- inquiry to the school environment. Um so, what we like to think about in the curiosity classroom is exploration of students and teachers together to explore topics together. So, we've got a number of different um themes represented in the room. There's a sensory table where students can explore in water or in other sensory materials. Maybe they want to bring
009pine cones from outside and fill up the sensory table with pine cones. We've got lots of books about all different topics represented in the room. We've got a nature area where we have biofacts. Um so, there are beaver skulls and skunk pelts and all kinds of natural materials that are found in our area in the Chicagoland area um that students can really touch and look at and explore and feel and to ask questions. Why does what you know, why does this have flat teeth? Why does this have pointed teeth? The idea behind the curiosity classroom is really to create a place for children, pre-K to second grade, to have an opportunity to explore new materials, to question the environment around them, and to uh wonder about the world um through materials and resources and and
010lessons and activities. When we had the idea to create these curiosity classrooms, we wanted to work with the participating schools to hear their ideas, to incorporate the ways that they would want to use a room, the ideas they had to for the room um to ensure that it really met their needs and would be something that they would want to use and continue to use. The partnership with Chicago Children's Museum is so special. Um it allows teachers to have the opportunity to get the professional learning that they need in order to how to maximize the space, but also bring that space back into their classrooms. Additionally, this partnership allows us the opportunity to bring the learning to the museum. And students and families and teachers have an opportunity to explore the museum and utilize the
011space first hand. Chicago Children's Museum was so pleased to have the opportunity to create these curiosity classrooms in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, the Office of Early Childhood Education, and Crown Family Philanthropies. We hope everybody can come, be inspired by the wonder and exploration that happens in the curiosity classrooms. [Applause] [Music] friends and partners from Chicago Children Museum to share more about the collaboration and the partners in this work. I'll introduce Amy Spar. We just need to go back to the PowerPoint. Is that a touchscreen? Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Um hi, I'm Amy Spar, the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Chicago Children's Museum, where we believe that open-ended joyful play is essential to the healthy development of children. I want to thank our partners at Chicago Public Schools and particularly the Office of Early
012Childhood Education for sharing and supporting that belief. Curiosity classrooms were born out of the museum's 16-month closure during the COVID pandemic and our desire to bring our mission to the children of Chicago when they could not visit us at our home at Navy Pier. Thanks to the leadership and partnership of the Office of Early Childhood Education, we were able to install the first 10 curiosity classrooms in the fall of 2022 followed by another 15 in 2024. None of this would be possible without the support and trust of our funders who all do so much for Chicago's youngest citizens. Thank you to Crown Family Philanthropies, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and the CME Group Foundation for seeing the potential of curiosity classrooms and enabling us to help CPS students and teachers cultivate their natural curiosity and
013develop positive STEM identities through playful teaching and learning. Thank you, Amy. Now we will hear and from our school leaders. The first school that we will hear from is the fantastic principal over at Ellington, Principal Williams. Good morning to our esteemed board. Think for a moment about the technology right at your disposal, right at your pocket. From electronic computers to artificial intelligence, every single world-changing change Excuse me, world-changing invention was born because someone followed their curiosity and asked, "What if?" That's exactly what the curiosity classroom does for our students. It is a dedicated space for imagination and discovery, and crucially, it is a commitment to equity. It ensures all of our students have access to hands-on STEM STEAM learning that leads to opportunity. This initiative directly supports the Chicago Public Schools graduate profile by developing
014our students as inquisitive as inquisitive learners and adaptive and independent thinkers. In this classroom, students don't just read about concepts, they actively experience them. They are immersed in experiential learning. They design and test structures applying principles of engineering. They use the wind tunnel to explore the invisible force of air laying an early foundation for concepts related to flight. Our sensory table support whole child development strengthening self-regulation, fine motor control, and early math concepts. The curiosity classroom is providing students with the essential skills for a future we can barely predict. Many of the most important high-growth jobs of tomorrow don't yet exist. Our mission is to prepare students for life by fostering early experiences with problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking through STEM. We are ensuring that Ellington students are not just ready for the future, but
015they are ready to build it. The curiosity classroom is our smartest investment in equity and potential. And now I'm going to turn over to one of our students, Aaron, who's going to tell us what she likes about the curiosity classroom. So, Aaron, what do you like about the curiosity classroom? I like at at the magnet house. It's a tower. So, you like to build? Tell them you like to build what? A building with magnet house. Oh, with magnet house. Thank you, Aaron. >> Thank you. Good job. Good job, Aaron. Thank you, Principal Williams and Aaron. We are now going to hear from our amazing school leaders at Nicholson and they will talk a little bit about how they're using the Curiosity Classroom in their classroom. Principal Carson. Good morning. My name is Mark Carson. I
016am the proud principal of Nicholson STEM Academy and I'm here to speak about uh how excited I am about our Curiosity Classroom and the opportunities it it provides for students. Uh it navigates a bridge that connects both families and school. And through our lessons our lesson planning, our hands-on activities, our STEM experiences, it allows our families uh to further be connected with our school. Now, we're going to hear from Ms. Ashley Logan, our first-grade teacher and our co- uh lead in our Curiosity Classroom who's going to tell you about her experiences and how it connects to the families in her classroom. Good morning, everybody. My name is Ashley C. Logan and I am a proud first-grade teacher at Nicholson STEM Academy as well as a Curiosity Classroom co-lead along with Ms. Barber. I want to
017begin by sincerely thanking the Chicago Children's Museum for the generous donation of the Curiosity Classroom to our school. We are so deeply grateful to Crown Family Philanthropies, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and the CME Group Foundation for their support in making this space possible. Additionally, I would like to thank our principal, Mr. Carson, and our assistant principal, Mrs. Bouyea-Gaffney, and Ms. Barber for their continued leadership and belief in innovative student-centered learning. At Nicholson, the Curiosity Classroom has become more than just a physical space. It serves as a place where curiosity, creativity, and confidence are nurtured and that impact impact extends further beyond the classroom walls. While many families do not have the opportunity to experience the room firsthand, they feel its influence every day throughout their children. Students go home excited to share what they
018explored, built, and discovered, which strengthens the connection between school and home. For us family and community engagement is not limited to attendance or visibility. It is about shared pride, trust, and meaningful connections. The Curiosity Classroom allows us to reimagine engagement in a way that honors our students' voices and our community's legacy. Today, I am honored to be joined by a Nicholson parent, Ms. Ashley Maples, and her son, my student, Rayland Buckley so that they can share their experiences with the Curiosity Classroom. She will speak to what it means to see this kind of investment in the school that strengthens her son daily. Thank you for your time and your continued investment in Nicholson STEM STEM Academy and our community. Good morning. My name is Ashley Maples. This is my son, Rayland, and I'm a parent
019at Nicholson STEM Academy. As a parent, it means a lot to know that my child attends a school where learning goes beyond worksheets and classrooms. Even though I might not see the Curiosity Room every day, I see it impact at home through my child's excitement creativity, and curiosity. My son comes home excited to talk about what he explored, created, and learned and that excitement makes me feel more connected to what's happening in the classroom. Seeing him come home eager to talk about what he explored or created makes me feel proud and reassured as a parent. It has positively impacted how he engages with learning overall. The Curiosity Room shows family that our children are valued and that their curiosity matters. We are grateful for the partners and leadership who made this opportunity possible. Thank you
020for continuing to support Nicholson STEM Academy and our students. Now, I would like to introduce one of my former students, Amir, who will share what the Curiosity Classroom means to him and what he enjoys the most about learning in that space. My name is Amir Allen. I am a second-grader at Nicholson STEM Academy. I like the Curiosity Classroom because it gives me the chance to explore nature items that I have never seen before. I believe that the Curiosity Classroom allows learning to be fun for kids. I am so grateful for my Curiosity Classroom at my school. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Amir. Thank you, Ms. Logan. Thank you, Ms. Maples. Principal Card Card Carson and also our staff at Ellington for all of your warm words and appreciation of our Curiosity Classroom. I will now
021turn it over to Michelle Ratkin, who will talk about how this Curiosity Classroom aligns to the larger STEM work that's happening within the Office of Teaching and Learning and she will close us out. Good morning and thank you all for having me. I am so grateful to follow that very tough act to follow with Amir. Um but like Chief McKinley said, I'm Michelle Ratkin, I'm the director of science here in CPS in the STEM department and we've heard a lot about how these Curiosity Classrooms embrace rigor, joy, and equity in early childhood learning. I'm going to follow up um and share about why they also exemplify three core uh tenets of our STEM vision here in the district. So, first, these Curiosity Classrooms allow our students to develop a sense of belonging and identity in
022STEM. We know that by the time students leave fifth grade, they often have perceptions about where they do or don't belong in STEM or what they're good at or not and having the opportunity to work in STEM disciplines, subjects, content, and experiences like the Curiosity Classrooms ensures that our students leave early childhood feeling that they do belong in STEM. Secondly, these classrooms use museum learning approaches like object-based learning that allow for democratizing entry points into deep and meaningful learning that connect what happens within the four walls of our classrooms to the real world outside. We know that learning inside classrooms affects what happens outside and vice versa. What happens outside affects learning inside and these classrooms provide a portal that do that in really rich and deep meaningful ways. I saw you all when you
023felt those natural objects, you had feelings, a wide range of them, and you will remember this. So, that kind of learning is really deeply impactful and we're grateful for Curiosity Classrooms to be a portal for that for our students. And last but not least, they catalyze pathways in schools that are often a gap for STEM learning. So, when we think about STEM-enriched settings like makerspaces or STEM labs, they're usually in elementary schools for older students, middle school students, or upper elementary and Curiosity Classrooms fill that gap for our youngest learners to make sure that we're setting the foundation for STEM pathways early and for everybody in our buildings. So, with that, I will turn it back over to Chief McKinley, but we are really grateful for this partnership and for the opportunity to bring this
024rich STEM learning into our schools. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to highlight our Curiosity Classrooms this morning in the Honoring Excellence segment of this month's board meeting. We appreciate your support and your continued trust in the work that we're doing not only within the Office of Early Childhood, but throughout our academic offices. Chief, I'll turn it back over to you. Uh thank you, Chief McKinley. Thank you to everyone that came here today to share their experiences, especially to our young learners from Ellington and Nicholson. Let's give them a round of applause. Uh and I'll now open up to the board if they have any questions or comments to our guests today. Member Rio Sierra. Thank you. I'm so excited to see you all here today. Congratulations to the students who spoke
025today. I hope this is the first of many opportunities that you speak about all the wonderful work you're doing in our schools. Um I love the Chicago Children's Museum. I have a very special relationship with the museum. I've as an artist, I worked with the museum several times doing workshops and there's actually an exploratory mosaic that is installed at the museum that I helped build with many many visitors a few years ago. Um I've always admired their their commitment to accessibility um and and um just their ability to in in really engage families and bring such joy and to learning. I'm so proud to see them within our Chicago Public Schools. Um we were very happy to bring a STEM program to McAuliffe School in partnership with National Science Foundation and Loyola Loyola Research. Uh
026unfortunately, that program ended when this presidential administration came into office, but we immediately saw the impact of learning and the connections with family. It was such an incredible program. I see Oscar back there hiding. Uh, I worked with Oscar several times. He's an incredible one of the incredible educators at the museum. So, I really applaud all of your work and I genuinely hope that there's a Children's Museum magic happening across our district. Thank you so much. Member Pope. Yes, I want to echo the uh, sentiments that uh, board member Rios Sierra just expressed. This is so cool. People learn the best, kids learn the best by having hands-on opportunities to explore and to really have experiential learning. It's so different than filling out workshops and looking at pictures in a book. And I am so
027happy for you that you have had these opportunities and I very much hope as a district that we can commit to expanding this kind of program to develop the curiosity, confidence hypothesis setting, etc. of our youngest learners. Thanks again. Member Wallace. Uh, thank you students for coming to share some of these exciting items you get to learn about. I'm always excited for a show and tell. Uh, for the the adults I mean, we don't want to give the students all of the attention. Uh, for the adults is as as board member Pope mentioned, is there uh, are there plans for a third cohort? I was just going to chime in after I was waiting for an opportunity. Um, through our our funders, we are um, having an opportunity to expand next year to five additional
028schools. So, we will take the same process that we have taken over the past couple years to identify sites. So, if sites are eligible, please reach out to the office of early childhood. Member Zecker. Um, yeah, I just want to echo as well. Thank you so much for coming to share with us um, the things that you're doing in your schools. What an amazing program and what a fabulous partnership. Just really um, showcases the kind of partnerships we want to have in CPS. Um, I feel very fortunate that I have two schools that have curiosity classrooms in my district, Courtney and McCutcheon, and I've had a chance to see just all the really fun stuff there is in there that even make me as an adult want to go in there and and play and
029learn some things that way. Um, I'm really excited to hear that uh, the program is going to expand and um, I hope we can uh, find ways to expand it even further so that more schools and more communities get the benefit of this type of learning. Member Brown. Um, good morning and thank you all for coming today. It's um, it warms my heart to to first look at two black men principals uh, as they say, standing on business and and doing right by our children. It it it's real and I just want to say to all of you, you know, teachers folks that work with young people, people that work in communities don't often get your flowers. Um, so I just want to say thank you for the work that you do because it is
030holy work. You could have been anything, you could have been an accountant, you could have been an investment banker and you decided to give your life to children. And I I just want to say for that you know, a round of applause. That's I'm asking the board to please recognize. And please keep inspiring our young people. Please help us One of the things I'm I'm interested in is how is this expressed vertically? Like how do middle school students have a similar experience? I don't I don't you know, I I just I would love to see this approach in CPS. Um, really expanding. I know Homeboy Links is doing something similar around poetry. And so I just think that this approach, it comes from a particular work uh, uh, ideology that resonates with me. So, how
031is this expressed vertically? Thanks. I beautiful question and I think um, part of what is at the heart of it is this idea of how are we providing opportunities for our students and in our schools that connect learning in and outside of the classroom that are based in objects that open up connections between community and home and the classroom and they we're very privileged in the district have an incredible suite of external partners including out-of-school time organizations and others who support directly in schools. There's a sort of suite of partnerships. Um, if you're looking to know more about the environmental um, perspective specifically I can speak to some of that work or museum partnerships specifically as a kind of another suite of folks we have who work also vertically across levels. Um, but happy to
032share a little bit about either of those or if there um, the relationships between out-of-school organizations and No, I'm I'm good. I appreciate it. Thank you. Member Boyles. Can How about that? Is that better? Thank you so much for bringing young folks here. We come we're all volunteers on this board. We're here for the kids and we don't get to see them nearly enough. So, I'll I'll start there. Um, but I appreciate the innovation. Um, there's so many stories that you hear that are negative about CPS and I tell people all the time there is really magical things happening at CPS and your program is an example of it. Um, I and I and I hope that we continue having conversations that um, that help us to figure out how we scale this up for
033everybody. Just you were 100% right. As soon as I touched the jawbone, like I couldn't figure it out, number one, I'll be quite honest. But I was going I had it the wrong way around and the teacher had to be like, turn it over. Um, but that experiential learning is is critical and it it's it's a game changer. So, I hope that we find ways to level this up um, across the board. Um, I but I I do wonder is one of your partners Cook County Forest Preserves? They have lots of things like items like that that have also confused me if I'm being honest and um, uh, how do those um, how do you gather those partnerships and how do we share them with other schools? Yes, we do partner with the Forest Preserve
034district. Um, in a in a variety of ways, but uh, thinking about expanding the communication channels is something I'd be glad to continue to talk about. We communicate about them through the STEM Teams lines of communication, but there may be other opportunities to make sure we're um, using all of the communication channels available to us. And similarly, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has a program a long-standing relationship with CPS where they lend out um, for free trunks of natural materials that can be borrowed from sites around um, our city and beyond. And so, another uh, many ways to get uh, our students deeply integrated into experiential learning with natural objects in those ways. But there's always room we know not every student is getting those experiences and so there's always room to keep thinking
035more deeply and broadly about how to get the word out and get those resources into everyone's hands. Great. And how do we normalize this across the board? That I mean, I think that's the question. Whenever I see innovation, I'm like, this is so exciting and then I'm like, if we know this how how magnificent or how um, impactful this is how do we get everybody in CPS a jawbone at kindergarten to to to to handle? But anyway, I guess that that may be a existential question that but but please if you've got any thoughts on it. Um, I hope that we can. And I think one way we do that is to start to think about how can we take this experience that has been created in these curiosity classrooms and create a smaller like
036toolkit of items that can be purchased and provided into our classrooms. And that's something that we are thinking about how do we rev up a toolkit particularly around our curiosity spaces for classrooms to experience. So, I think that gets at a little bit of what you're uh, suggesting and highlighting. Thank you so much. Thanks so much. Thank you all. Thanks kids. Thanks everybody for stopping by. We really appreciate um, having that energy in this space. Member Gutierrez. You know, I want to Can all the students stand up real quick? Um, I saw them as I was heading out to a meeting. Um, you guys were awesome. I echo the same My microphone off or on? It's on now. It's on now. Excellent. Um, when I was leaving the building this morning, uh, I saw all
037my friends coming into the building. You guys were awesome. So, give yourselves a round of applause. Um, and I echo the same sentiments that my board members have said. You know, the more that we can get uh, innovation like this into the classroom uh, hands-on I I think you see the great results here. So, uh, let's give them one last round of applause. And thank you guys for coming to visit us. Please come again. Member Lopez. Thank you, Board President. Thank you to everyone. Thank you for the little ones coming before us and for the opportunity to also let them develop their public speaking skills. Uh I as it was previously previously mentioned, I believe by Board Member Blaze, often times we might not have as much time to go and visit every single classroom,
038given that many of us you know, scheduling and whatnot with this volunteer role can be a little bit can be a little bit challenging at times, right? That being said, I I also want to highlight that this is an important right and example of like it was mentioned, innovation with partnership across the field with philanthropy, with other levels of government, um in particular hearing about the Forest Preserve in Cook County. Great to hear that there's this particular partnership in place. I am aware of other partnerships with the Forest Preserve as it pertains to our younger older kids and also having our parent mentors out and taking them to like you mentioned, being there, having that experience, learning more about nature. I also had the opportunity to provide public comment during their budget hearings at the
039county, ensuring that there is that type of funding and also transportation funding for those field trips. So, I would love to hear if there's anything else that the board can do to help uplift these stories and bring in more partnerships. Thank you. Well, you guys have set the bar pretty high. A tough act to follow. Dr. King, I don't know what you're going to do next. Thank you so much. Happy holidays to you all. [Applause] President Harden, I do want to note for the record that Vice President Bautista joined the meeting at 10:43 a.m. and honorary student board member Destiny Singleton joined the meeting at 11:00 a.m. Thank you. Dr. King, we're ready for your remarks. Good morning. Morning. Thank you, Chief Carmona and Chief McKinley for leading Honoring Excellence this morning. I also want
040to thank the Children's Museum as they exit out and the communities from Ellington and Nicholson for making us a part of your instructional day and giving us the gift of student voice. It's a it's wonder wonderful to hear directly how investments are impacting our students' daily experience and it truly is a gift for us as we lead this work. Before I get started with any of my updates, I want to introduce Josh Long, Chief of CPS Office of Students with Disabilities for an update on Instituto del Progreso, one of our charter schools. Good morning, everybody. Thank you, Dr. King. Uh before I read the letter required by the Illinois State Board of Education, I want to briefly frame why this action is before the board and clarify roles and responsibilities. Chicago Public Schools is the
041local education agency for its charter schools and is legally responsible for monitoring compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Through the Office for Students with Disabilities, CPS conducts special education monitoring, identifies non-compliance, and requires corrective action when violations are found. The Office of Incubation or Innovation and Incubation serves as the charter authorizer and incorporates compliance information into its broader oversight processes. This Step 3 sanction reflects the school's repeated and unresolved failure to correct documented special education violations over multiple school years despite notice, required corrective actions, monitoring, and support. Under ISBE's progressive enforcement framework, Step 3 requires the district to formally notify the board of continued non-compliance and to read this letter aloud at a public meeting, which I'm going to do now. Dear Board of Education of the City of Chicago, on October 27th,
0422025, the Illinois State Board of Education issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter Step 3 to the district stemming from an open systemic state complaint as well as ongoing violations of special education rules and regulations by Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy, a CPS charter school. As a result of ISBE's sanction letter, ISBE is requiring the district to read this letter to the Board of Education of the City of Chicago at the December 18th, 2025 meeting. As background, on July 10th, 2023, ISBE opened a systemic complaint investigation into allegations of violations of special education rules and regulations during the 2022-2023 school year relating to placement determinations, parent participation, IEP review and revisions, procedural safeguards, response to intervie intervention, state and district procedures, IEP implementation, related services and special education services and programs, class size,
043and qualified personnel. On August 22nd, 2023, ISBE completed its initial complaint investigation and determined that there were a number of violations regard related to special education and related services at Instituto and issued a 34-page letter of finding ordering corrective action for the 10 violations during the 22-23 school year and requesting documentation for the 23-24 school year to determine whether the violations were ongoing. On August 19th, 2024, ISBE issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter Step 1 due to Instituto's non-compliance and failure to fully complete the corrective action items, including providing interpreters at IEP meetings, holding annual IEP meetings within regulatory timelines, providing compensatory education for missed instruction and services from the 22-23 and 23-24 school year, qualified personnel, and class sizes. ISBE noted that the students who had not received speech language services
044in accordance with their IEPs during the 23-24 school year were the same six students who were not provided with the compensatory services for 37 weeks of missed services during the 22-23 school year. In fact, per ISBE's August 22nd, 2023 letter of finding, these minutes were to be provided by January 12th, 2024. As of June 28th, 2024, Instituto had not provided any compensatory minutes for three of the students, 7% of the compensatory minutes for one student, 29% of the compensatory minutes for one student, and 46% of the compensatory minutes for another student. Due to the delay in providing compensatory services offers to parents, the changes in the compensatory service dates, the discrepancies in the number of students who require compensatory services reported by Instituto, and the limited information provided to parents in which to reply to
045the offer of compensatory services, ISBE could not conclude that Instituto provided the students with a reasonable opportunity to engage in the compensatory services. As a result, ISBE ordered additional corrective action items requiring not only completion of the outstanding corrective action items for the 22-23 and the 23-24 school years, but required ongoing monitoring of the outstanding violations for the 24-25 school year. ISBE prepared a monitoring plan which involved the ISBE-appointed liaison as well as three ISBE charter school monitors to ensure students are receiving all required special education services as outlined in their IEPs. The intent of the plan was also to ensure that Instituto was completing appropriate documentation within regulatory timelines and holding compensatory education meetings if students are not receiving appropriate services per their IEPs. As a result, ISBE met with Instituto and district representatives
046to discuss the status of the complaint and the next steps in the ISBE monitoring process. On March 25th, 2025, ISBE issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter Step 2. ISBE noted that each response submitted by Instituto had shown varying degrees of success in meeting the requirements of the corrective action. However, not enough for ISBE to close the systemic complaint. ISBE further acknowledged efforts to provide some compensation to students who did not receive special education services during the 24-25 school year, but found that the offer of summer school for two consecutive years did not dismiss Instituto's obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education for services not provided during the 22-23, 23-24, and 24-25 school years. ISBE was particularly concerned that some students had not received special education services required in their IEPs
047for three school years, and I quote, "Due to Instituto's delay in providing the compensatory services offered to parents for the 22-23 school year, the change in the compensatory service dates, the discrepancies in the number of students who require compensatory services reported by the district, and the limited information provided to parents in which to reply to the offer of compensatory services, ISBE does not conclude that the district provided the students with a reasonable opportunity to engage in the compensatory services." End quote. As a result, ISBE ordered the completion of any outstanding corrective action items for the 22-23, 23-24, and 24-25 school years by the end of the 24-25 school year, and also extended its monitoring into the 25-26 school year. On October 28th, 2025, the district received ISBE's notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter, step
048three, for the Instituto systemic state complaint. To date, Instituto has not provided the documentation needed to demonstrate correction of five of the 10 identified non-compliance areas, including the following: Annual IEP meetings were not convened for students with a regulatory within the regulatory timeline. Instituto did not have a plan for the use of a process that determines how students respond to scientific research-based interventions as part of the evaluation procedures for identifying a specific language disability. Direct speech and language services were not provided to students. To date, there are still students owed compensatory education for missed speech and language services going back to the 22-23 and 23-24 school years. This delay resulted in students graduating, transferring from the school or in district, no longer being eligible, or revoking consent for special education services, further impeding their access
049to required compensatory education minutes. Instituto Instituto did not provide paraprofessional services for several students as required in their IEPs. There are multiple students who spent the majority of their high school years without receiving the paraprofessional services to which they were entitled in the 22-23, 23-24, and 24-25 school years. Classrooms in which students with IEPs were assigned exceeded the allowable special education class size requirements. And finally, due to a shortage of special education staff, specialized instruction was not provided in and out of the general education setting for math, science, social science, and English language arts courses for students in the 10th through the 12th grade. ISBE estimated that during the 24-25 school year, there were likely over 100 students who missed between 12,000 and 80,000 minutes of instruction and/or services. Due to Instituto's non-compliance beyond the
050timelines set in step one and step two sanctions letters, excuse me, and as a result, as part of step three sanctions, ISBE has ordered Instituto to provide documentation needed to demonstrate correction of the outstanding areas of non-compliance, and for the district to develop and immediately implement an over oversight plan to address Instituto's outstanding areas of non-compliance and oversight of Instituto for the 25-26 school year. While Instituto is a separate and independent entity from district-run schools, the oversight plan will include further collaboration with Instituto and the office of incubation innovation and incubation, which provides incubation, management, and oversight of charter schools, the office for students with disabilities, which provides support to district-run schools and families on special education issues such as instruction, interventions, and legal compliance support. Oversight measures include a regular cadence of biweekly check-ins
051between Instituto and the district, as well as monthly on-site visits to discuss Instituto's completion of the outstanding Well, and as month uh pardon me uh oversight measures include a regular cadence of biweekly check-ins in between Instituto and the district, as well as monthly on-site visits to discuss Instituto's completion of the outstanding speech and language compensatory education for the 23-24 and 24-25 school years, monitoring paraprofessional services, which includes scheduling and provision of services, monitoring annual IEP and reevaluation meeting scheduling, completing notice of non-implementation and break in service letters as necessary, and Instituto's plan for providing a free and appropriate public education for all students with disabilities who are not assigned to a special education teacher. Thank you. Happy to take any questions if there are any. So, questions related to this will be directed to the
052board office. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Long. We have a lot to discuss today. So, August started with the winter weather that arrived early and with a vengeance in Chicago. Thank you to facilities the facilities team for clearing the snow and making sure that our students stay stayed dry and warm. Thank you also to the bus drivers, the bus aids, the crossing guards, the vendor partners, and school staff who brave the elements every day to make sure our students can travel safely to and from school and get the education they deserve. We know that many of our students rely on school for more than education, so our goal is always to keep classrooms open no matter the conditions outside. But if classes are ever canceled due to extreme weather, staff and students will be
053notified through email, robo call, and text. Information will be posted on cps.edu, and local media will be asked to share the details on TV and radio. Next, I'll move to policy changes that um is soon to impact many of our CPS families. As of February 1st, 2026, significant changes will go into effect regarding eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP. These changes were originally scheduled to begin earlier this month, but have now been pushed back to this new date. While this is a federal program not under CPS control, our district has been working to make sure that our families understand these changes and know where to access meals and groceries if they need that support. All of this information is also available on our website at cps.edu/snap. The impending changes
054to the SNAP program will be challenging for many of our families, especially though especially in the wake of the government shutdown earlier this fall with benefits were significantly delayed. Fortunately, they will not impact students receiving meals at schools. Every CPS student will continue to have access to free breakfast and lunch at school every single day. Moving on to LSC elections, LSC elections will be held on March 18th, 2026, and I encourage all parents, educators, community members, and eligible students to consider running. If you're a community member, run to uplift the neighborhoods you call home. If you're a parent, run so that you can play an active role in supporting your child's education. If you are an educator, run so that your school continues to be a great place to work and thrive. And if you
055are a student, run to make sure that students' needs are at the center of every decision the school makes. Whatever your connection to CPS, we need your voice. Anyone interested in running for their local school council must complete their candidate paperwork by Tuesday, January 20th at 3:00 p.m. Talk to your school leadership for more information or visit cps.edu/lscelection. I now want to touch on an issue that is of great concern for all of us. As many of you may have seen in the media, CPS unfortunately experienced a few serious incidents of student bullying in the past few weeks. Chicago Public Schools takes bullying very seriously. We are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for every student. Our team works closely with students, educators, and families to provide education, resources, and proactive strategies to
056prevent and address bullying. I cannot get into details of these incidents as except to say that they are being investigated and dealt with in accordance with CPS policy. But I do want to speak to a larger issue, which is that every student deserves to feel safe, valued, and respected in our schools. I invite everyone to visit our website at cps.edu/bullying for more information, including the signs of bullying, how parents can report bullying to CPS, and what our district is doing to prevent and address incidents of bullying. We will be communicating with our families on this issue in more detail in the near future. For now, I want to state in the strongest possible terms that bullying has no place in our classrooms, and that we are committed to preventing it and addressing it. I'll now
057turn to the city budget, which is currently being debated in City Hall. By law, the city must pass a budget by December 31st, 2025, and it has major implications for our schools and community. CPS worked tirelessly earlier this year to close a significant deficit without making cuts to our classrooms. Then in August, a majority of our city's alderpersons pledged to provide CPS with enough TIF revenue to close our remaining budget gap and avoid mid-year cuts. Mayor Johnson then followed suit and outlined a budget proposal in October that reflected this commitment. I cannot overstate the important of importance of this TIF surplus to our CPS communities and families. This revenue will prevent us from having to make cuts to our classrooms in the middle of the year. Such cuts would be hugely disruptive to our students'
058routines and could impact progress from our youngest learners to our high school graduates. Our students have made significant gains since the end of the pandemic. Failure to pass a budget that includes the promised TIF revenue will put this progress at risk, creating serious challenges for our school communities. We need to remember that our public schools reflect the overall health of the city. Put it another way, the children of our classrooms today are Chicago's next generation of school leaders. When we invest in their education, wellness, and development development, we are laying a foundation for Chicago's continued status as a world-class city. It will take strong, sustained investment by our city to ensure long-term success of our schools, and that is what we hope to see in the city's final 2025 budget. Later in today's meeting, our
059academic team will share some of the SY25 gains, as I mentioned a moment ago. That data we're going to discuss is not merely a collection of numbers from last year. These numbers represent our students, their talents, their hard work, their achievements, and their aspirations for the future. They are the reason we are here. With all this happened in the past year, through leadership transitions, city politics, federal agents in our streets, we remain focused on our purpose, to provide every child from every community with a rigorous, joyful, and equitable education. And we feel as such a sense of urgency in this moment because the stakes are so high. Every decision we make affects the trajectory of their progress. The academic data we'll share today reflects the progress on improving the student experience and the gains we
060are trying to protect. We fight fight hard for funding because our students deserve it. They deserve every opportunity and the continued investment in their education because they simply cannot afford to wait. We create programs like the one you saw today, we build partnerships, and expand opportunities. We are constantly monitoring what we're doing well and where we can do better. We do it all because our effort can make the difference for the students that we serve. I will let our academic team get into more detail. For now, I'll just say that much of what we're seeing from our students paints an encouraging picture for the success of our district. We are not satisfied. There are areas where more investment and better strategies are needed for students to reach their full potential. If we are to achieve
061the goals set forth in the five-year strategic plan, we must do better. Finally, I want to wish everyone in our CPS community a peace and joyful holiday season. There's no doubt we are living in challenging times, not just as a school district, but as a society. So, I hope that everyone can take some much-needed time during the winter break to relax, recharge, and reconnect with loved ones. We want our students to enjoy their time off as well, but we also want to make sure they are safe and engaged. Many opportunities are available through the Chicago Park District and through Chicago meet museums and public libraries. I encourage all of our families to visit cps.edu/ winter break to explore a variety of options that are available for keeping students safe and productive during the next 2
062weeks. I also want to caution our students and families around the large, unsupervised gatherings of young people that have that pop up around the city. These can, although with good intentions, they can create There are good intentions in the way they're organized. However, they can create unsafe conditions for our students. We have recently seen how these things can get out of hand and turn tragic during the season that is supposed to be full of joy. We want our young people to enjoy the many holiday activities Chicago has to offer. We want them to do so safely and responsibly. We are looking very for looking forward to receiving you all back on January 6th, safe and sound. So, I encourage parents and parents have conversations with their children. And I encourage our students to have fun,
063be smart, and stay safe, and return back to us whole on January 6th. Mr. President, this concludes my prepared remarks. Thank you, Dr. King. Do you have any questions or comments for Dr. King relative to her remarks? Yes. Um thank you. Uh CEO, I really appreciate um this update um and I just want to um share my experience, you know, given the situation, the bullying situation that we all witnessed in the media. Um I spent um quite a few days that first week uh knocking on doors, talking to residents, hearing like more about the root causes that led to a situation like that. And um I just want to reaffirm my commitment. I know we have had uh multiple meetings with Park Districts and the libraries, the our labor partners, and the district to address
064this issue of bullying, um and also the way that we um you know, the the issue I think that is really heavy on my mind is like how we move to like expulsion and other um hard decisions that the district and the school um had in front of them. Um so, I want to reaffirm my commitment to figure out um ways that we can also address these root causes to some of the issues that we were seeing. Uh and this one, I mean, obviously, like I've talked to a lot of board members, and I really appreciate uh all the board members that have reached out to me, and the board members that actually came and walked with me, um and um and heard from the community, um that it it is something that we what
065we don't want is to just push this problem to another community and to another school. And um and I know this is a a much bigger issue that we're probably not going to be able to solve like immediately, but um given that this was uh so um you know, in in uh in the media, and the people were paying attention, um I just want to highlight that I also got a lot of messages from board members and from schools where this is happening across the district. And um there's not an easy answer, but I I do think that um making sure that we're just not pushing these problems to another school community, um to another neighborhood, um is really important, and I want to be able to join, you know, forces with um the district
066and with other board members who are also who you know, really concerned as well from because of some of the situations that have been in their districts as well. Um because I I think that there are ways, especially the way that people have uh the all the agencies have rallied around the situation that we saw. Um it makes me um you know, the silver excited because the silver lining is that now we're addressing these issues, and and I just like I said, want to just keep reaffirming my commitment to help figure out um the best way to be able to deal with these situations so we can offer those wrap-around services to uh all the families that were impacted. So, thank you. Member Lozano. Yes, thank you, uh, Mr. President, but also, um, I would
067like to also ask if, uh, given the information that we have is that Agent Bovino and ICE is back in Chicago and they've been targeting, you know, Back of the Yards, Pilsen, Little Village, and areas like that. Um, is there going to be maybe some information that's going to go back out with the children to the families? I've met with, uh, families over the weekend who are afraid to go to work. They're afraid to go to the grocery store, and they're afraid to take their children to school because, um, ICE agents are all over our neighborhoods and and just getting caught up in that situation changes lives. So, I think it's, uh, very important that we talk about it and that we reiterate that parents can go inside of necessary and would some way get
068information and maybe even some families need to know how to use the, uh, app signal because that's where a lot of the information is coming through, so they know where ICE is at any given time. And, uh, all of those kind of things I think can come best from the schools where they trust, where they leave their children, where teachers are involved, and etc. So, I would really like for us to focus on that, and I'd like some information if there's any new information, uh, that's going to help protect these families and their children, our communities. Thank you for that. We never stopped our task force. Um, when Bovino said he was leaving, we doubled down on our efforts, and we began to go out into community, into schools that were hardest hit to learn
069from what was working, and identifying what were some strategies that we could use for schools that may not have had as much, um, support from the community. So, that's ongoing. And for board members, we meet weekly. I think it's I believe it's weekly. You can always we update board members weekly on the most up-to-date information, what's happening in the community, and what our response is. So, if there's any time that you want to know outside of those weekly updates, please feel free to reach out, but we're trying to make sure that we're, you know, communicating regularly because as we know, this is an ongoing issue, and despite Bovino's decision to show up or not, we will continuously work on supporting our schools, and we do agree that the schools is a safe place for our
070families. Um, and if I could, um, address the other comment. For, um, I agree with what happened. Unfortunately, these are incidents that take place across the city, um, quite often, and because this was on social media, it caught it garnered a lot more attention. We also have, uh, convened a team to work, um, in support of garnering city resources, the mayor would say the full force of government to support all of the schools across the city. That cadence will happen That will be ongoing and will not slow down. We will welcome all board members, but we have stood up for a task force with safety and security to support not just reactive, but to be proactive to support all of the students, but most importantly the community so that at best we can make sure
071that we minimize any further impact. So, we also will make sure that we keep you informed of the progress that that task force is making as well. I just want to add one thing. I know we get, uh, we don't get, uh, reports about expulsions. Um, the board doesn't receive that kind of data, um, and I think it'd be helpful for us to know, and I'm not sure how it's being tracked at the moment, but it would be helpful to know like where are our suspensions and expulsions happening, and like what part of the city, what districts, and and like any information that, um, is like high level so that, you know, if we don't uh, are not able to see like the all the details while they're being investigated, but at least having a
072sense of, um, is this issue getting worse or better? Like it would be helpful for us to be able to have that cuz I was asked multiple times about, um, that kind of data, and I I I didn't have it anywhere easily to be able to to point to and to understand like, um, you know, just like the the depth of the the issue without having some of that information. We can make sure we share that with you. Member Lopez. Thank you, Board President. Um, thank you to the communities, to the principals, the teachers, uh, rapid response teams, nonprofits, our school leaders, including FACE, uh, safety and security departments for once again stepping up and protecting our students. Um, as Board Member Lozano mentioned, earlier this week, the Southwest Side was hit hard by ICE
073yet again. Families taken, um, families separated. Uh, so, thank you for the weekly briefings and also the memos provided to the board in answering the questions that we've had. Um, I was just wondering if you can provide some of that information to the public as what can families expect given that we're going to go into winter break, and we don't know if ICE will continue to be, um, you know, pretty much going into our communities and taking individuals. Uh, if you can talk a little bit about the command center and any other information that would be key for families, uh, to know. Thank you. So, the command center is up and really available, and our team we will have Do we have, um, Ronan or Chief I don't want to speak without But we do
074have the command center is up. I would I can get you more information about just the tracking and follow-up during the break. Thank you. And it's my understanding the command center will be, um, still open during the break, and that, um, also it's my understanding that, uh, the district will continue monitoring the parking lots, um, to ensure that they're not used as staging areas. So, thank you for that. >> Absolutely. We will not We will not stop, and even though there was the threat, I mean, the we're going away until spring, we used that opportunity. Our task force still meets daily, and we used that opportunity to improve on the, um, actions that schools take. Some schools had a lot, you know, a lot stronger support base, and so we were trying to learn from
075them and what worked. And so, obviously we didn't have as much time as we thought, but we did have a lot of takeaways to provide principals with additional support. Member Brown. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, uh, just for, uh, providing this space. I I wanted to just support Board Member Bautista's statements, um, the status quo is, um, to be extremely punitive with black people. Um, we don't, you know, we use words like equity um, from places of comfort. We're very concerned that there was not a way to really find out what was happening with those young people. And we have resources that can hold them responsible for what they did, but not discard them. Um, I had the experience the blessing of teaching black history at St. Leonard's Adult High School. It's
076the only accredited high school for the formerly incarcerated. And there's nothing like being in a room of with souls that have been discarded. That have made mistakes, and then they grab onto something when they're in their 30s and their 40s, and half their life is gone. We should not take that approach with children. We should hold them responsible. But there are ways to do that without discarding them. And I'm I'm concerned, Madam Superintendent, cuz I just feel that, um, it was difficult to find out what was happening. And I'm I am not a co-signer on equity talk, but status quo walk. I can't co-sign that. Malcolm X said, "I'm not a particularly educated man, but I'm sincere, and my sincerity is my credential." And so, I'm I'm I'm deeply concerned about that. Because I know
077what happens to young people when they go in those spaces, those alternative spaces, and they don't have the support that they need. I spent 20 years of my life working with young people like that. Where you have to try to reignite the light that's been doused. It's serious. And I don't like trying to find out information and having to hunt to get it. Do I Do I can Do I think those young people should uh, that committed that act on the Southeast Side should walk away with, uh, a peace circle? No. But there are ways to hold them responsible without the status quo. There are ways to restore them while holding them responsible. And I just think that's important. So, board members have been asking, board members have been trying to get involved, board members
078have been trying to find out what can we do? We brought community resources to the table. We built a community coalition of folks who do that type of work that could actually bring some wisdom into the room to support CPS. And I think that's that's one of the benefits that we could bring to this board. But it has to be tapped. And then um So, this is not directed at you, Madam Superintendent, but it's directed the process it just did not feel genuine. It felt like there was something happening and there was a decision being made and we would and the people were hold doing this to us. And and we are not staff of Chicago Public Schools, we get it. But this was a this was an incident. And and there is a bigger
079problem, there is a bigger issue, so I appreciate your approach saying that we have to address it system-wide. But there were opportunistic interests that were surrounding that parent and calling for those children's heads. They were and those and and I can tell you who those people are. I've chased some of those people, I know who they are. And those are not people that should be impacting our decision making. They should when that mic comes and they come in that mic should be cut off. They've lost the right to talk in the public forum. And they should not be impacting our decision making. So, respectfully, we got we have to do better. We have to do better. I've been working on equity stuff my whole life, my base of people, the working poor. I walked away
080from the music industry and I've been doing that for 30 years. I know what it's like when people don't when people look at us and they think we're less than. But it's start despite what they say. It's a old saying, you're so smart you're stupid. And that's a old saying, when you think you fool somebody. So, I'm just sharing that. Please, consult us with the this need this is important to us. It's important to us cuz it's an opportunity for us to prove that we mean what we say. It's an opportunity to prove that we mean what we say and it's not just empty talking points. So, that's it. And when board member Brown says he left the music industry, it's true. He has sev- he has a couple of albums, he has a video.
081I mean, go to YouTube, check it out. Um G2 is a real MC. So, but that aside, I think this is also a real opportunity. Um I was able to call the the um CPAA from CPAA and I said, "How's the how's everything going at the school?" And she said that the principal there has been inundated with resources. Um and that was beautiful for me to hear from from CPS, from the city, um everybody's coming together. But um I think it would be it this is a real opportunity to see all of those resources that we had come together under Durres and maybe there's a weekly meeting or a bi-monthly meeting or something that happens regularly where where all of that coalition of folks is is in the room and they're thinking about where things
082might bubble up, right? The bullying is happening somewhere. Apparently that the the one or two of those youth were also engaged in something earlier. Um and everybody needs to know. Everybody needs to know what's going on because something will spill out from school into the streets. Now it's their cousin is going to fight with their cousin and then you've got all kind of mayhem happening. So, I think this is a real opportunity to see what worked um and what we can continue to do in terms of a task force or a coalition of um uh of of community groups that have their ear to the ground and that can see um issues maybe before they get to this extent. Um so, I I just encourage everyone um I to to to think through how we
083pull together a task force. But really what I wanted to talk about was um I just wanted to know if you could touch base on your thoughts, your responses. There was a story about CPS um teachers and their travel budgets. Um and I'm getting a lot of questions about it. I know you took some steps and I just want to give you the floor so that you could speak to that. Uh do you mind if I address board member Brown? >> I do yes, of course. >> Board member Brown, this is important to me as well. And I and I just want to state that per the board policy, there are confidentiality rules that we must abide by. And it was the that parent and the school has been they received tremendous support. And it
084is my responsibility to make sure that I follow the board procedures. I have to operate within board procedures. If there are some board policies that may need to be adjusted, that is at the as at the hands of the board to do so. I called for the city to come around the table to organize the resources that are available. So, those meetings that are happening with all of the city departments, that came from me. That was my call. Because what I don't want to happen, I agree with you. There has been a way in which students once they reach expulsion, we don't know where they go and we've had those conversations. And so, if there's something that I can do to communicate differently, maybe add that to the weekly meetings that we have, but I'm
085more than willing to do that because this is very important to me as well and I chosen my 32 years of education to work in underserved neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago, the West Side of Chicago and then ultimately a school closure. So, this is deeply important to me and the work that I do would be to help impact and ultimately change policy and identify how can we utilize through city resources to support because what I do know is that after the cameras are gone, those teachers, though that principal, that community, the CHA housing development, the park district, they will still need our support. So, what we do now can set a precedent in a way that we streamline resources to support proactively and reactively. So, it is very important to me. Um thank
086you for sharing that and I'll make sure that we find a better way to communicate what it is that we're doing. Um uh board member Blaze, I'm not quite sure of what you're referring to when you talk about >> respect to the travel though, can we have that question uh communicated through the board office and responded through that way, please? So, we can move on. That it's not part of our agenda. Absolutely, President Harden. Thank you. Member Lozano. Yes, I I just had another question because I was at a community meeting where they were still concerned that certain signage wasn't still up at their schools, you know, that basically is saying that, you know, ICE cannot stage there or have their vehicles there or those types of things and they the community members actually made
087their own signs and went to put them up at some schools. I'm just wondering like where that's at because this is very important to our community. I don't know if they'll actually stop, but we need to have those things up in order to have the community at least feel that we're, you know, have their best interest and that we care about, you know, the the families and what they're going through. I just want people to think about what it is like, you know, like if your husband or your father is undocumented and they have to go to work and you have ICE, you know, like caravans going down your streets in your community and they see them dragging women out of cars and stuff. This is very dangerous times for these families. And they're parents
088of US citizens and Chicago Public Schools students and and it's just a really terrifying time and and I just want to make sure the the what we promised to do gets done because they deserve that. You know, and I just wanted to know if you could give me an update on like a signage and and how many schools have them already or if they're not all up or what's the situation. Chief Mayfield, would you please provide an update? Sure. Um thank you, board member uh Lozano for the question. Uh we placed all the signs up in those neighborhoods. We developed the sign months ago and have placed those out. I understand that we also received um suggested signage from the community, but we we're already we already have our signs up uh to be able
089to advocate uh for who needs to be in that parking lot, which is the CPS employees and parents that we like to enter the uh the school. Thank you. And lastly, member Sako. Thank you, President Harden. Um I also wanted to uh address the bullying issue and and maybe more this question, this broad question of bullying across the district. Um I think as as educators, it's incumbent upon us to believe that every child and really every adult also can improve from wherever they are if the proper supports are provided. So, expulsion should just not be on the table as a solution cuz that's that's not allowing for that opportunity to improve. Um I think that CPS, you know, really talks the talk of um uplifting student voices, of emphasizing restorative practices over punitive discipline, of
090um creating whole school safety plans, but that we need to do a better job of walking the walk. So, I've looked at a couple of whole school safety plans and, you know, we just really need to be more in-depth and more intentional in that process and ensure that I I know it makes sense to start with high schools, but make sure that we're getting those into the the elementary schools as well. Um we need to really think about what does it take to create restorative culture in schools. It's It's not restorative if you just say, "Well, I talked to the student and I didn't suspend them, so now we're restorative." That's not what it means. It's much more involved than that. Um we just heard today from Good Kids Mad City about a proposal they
091have for how to implement a more thoroughgoing restorative uh restorative practices framework within schools that really center students. And I think, you know, that's an avenue that we need to go down to really figure out how system-wide we get away from issues that are going to happen in schools and create an environment where there's more a pathway to solutions that um that prioritize every single student. Thank you for your comments, board. Uh we do have committee updates. Excuse me, President Harden. Before we move forward, uh the translator is now going to translate Dr. King's King's remarks into Spanish as a condensed statement. If you wish to receive the fully translated statement, please contact the board office for assistance. Para aquellas familias que reciban beneficios por el programa de asistencia nutricional SNAP, es importante que sepan
092que los cambios que se acercan en cuanto a la elegibilidad a la elegibilidad. Estos cambios tendrán efecto para las familias de Illinois el 1 de febrero de 2026. Los cambios al programa SNAP no impactarán los alimentos escolares y cada estudiante continuará teniendo acceso a desayunos y almuerzos gratis cada día. Para información sobre los cambios al programa SNAP, las familias pueden visitar el sitio web www.cps.edu/snap. [Music] Las elecciones de los concilios locales escolares o LSC de nuestro distrito serán el 18 de marzo de 2026. Todo aquel interesado en postularse para un puesto en el LSC de su escuela debe entregar la documentación necesaria para el 20 de enero de 2026. Los LSC tienen puestos para estudiantes, padres, educadores, miembros del personal y miembros de la comunidad y todos estos son elegibles para postularse. Ser miembro de
093un LSC es una excelente manera de involucrarse en sus comunidades escolares y por lo tanto se invita a todos a considerar postularse. Para más información, pasen a cps.edu/lsc_election. Como podrán haber visto en los medios, recientemente ha habido varios varios incidentes notables de acoso o bullying en nuestras escuelas. CPS toma todo alegato de bullying muy en serio y continuará haciendo todo lo posible para prevenir estas situaciones. Para recursos sobre el bullying, incluyendo sus indicios, cómo reportarlo y cómo CPS responde a incidentes, favor visitar cps.edu/bullying. Por ley, la ciudad de Chicago eh debe pasar un presupuesto para el 31 de diciembre de 2025. Este presupuesto impactará a nuestras escuelas sustancialmente. Apreciamos a la cantidad mayoritaria de concejales municipales que se comprometieron a darle a CPS los fondos de TIF necesarios para evitar hacer recortes de mitad de
094año en nuestras aulas. Estos recortes, de ocurrir, serían extremadamente trastornadores para nuestros estudiantes y por eso esperamos que el último presupuesto municipal del 2025 refleje este compromiso. En esta reunión, nuestro equipo académico compartirá algunos de los impresionantes logros académicos que alcanzaron nuestros estudiantes durante el año escolar 2024-2025. Estos datos representan el talento y la labor dura de nuestros estudiantes y reflejan el progreso que intentamos progresar proteger. Mucho de lo que vemos de nuestros estudiantes es alentador, pero también hay áreas donde se necesitan más inversiones y mejores estrategias para que los estudiantes alcancen su máximo potencial. Finalmente, hoy quiero desearles a todos en nuestra comunidad de CPS paz y alegría durante estas fiestas. Las familias que estén buscando actividades para mantener a sus niños seguros y ocupados durante el receso de invierno deberían visitar cps.edu/winter_break. Animamos
095a nuestros estudiantes a divertirse, ser astutos y permanecer seguros en el en estas últimas dos semanas estas próximas dos semanas y esperamos con entusiasmo darle la bienvenida de vuelta a todos los estudiantes el martes 6 de enero de 2026. Muchas gracias. I'd also like to announce for the uh no further record that board member Smith joined the meeting at 11:36 a.m. Thank you. We'll move forward now with committee updates. Uh we do have two to present this morning, member Brown and member Blaze. Please share with us an update on the Black Student Achievement Committee. Thank you, President Harden. Um good morning, everyone. Um so, here are remarks. We're we're we're excited to just announce that the application process is open for the Black Student Achievement Committee. Uh we're looking forward to very soon seating this
096committee. Uh and have a few words just to set that process forward. I was taught that education is inspiration and information that prepares people to impact the world. With that definition, what are the opportunities for inspiration offered to Chicago's black student population? Ample research reveals that in America, white students have access to more advanced placement courses than black students. White students have significantly more access to world language, science, and after-school programs. Black boys are suspended five times as often as their white counterparts for the same infractions. Black girls, 10 times as much for the same infractions. White students also have greater access to more art and music than black students. This inequity has historically been protected in the United States. We are here to disrupt that. We want all children to have opportunities for inspiration,
097equitable opportunities for inspiration. We want all children to have their imagination captured when they come into school. To confront these system inequities, and after years of advocacy from parents, educators, and community organizations, CPS launched the Black Student Success Plan in 2025, which is an essential priority in the district's five-year strategic plan to improve black students' daily learning experiences and life outcomes by addressing opportunity gaps and advancing equity. And so, the Black Student Achievement Committee, which I am proud to co- to co- to with board member Blaze, supports the district's day-to-day work on the Black Student Success Plan through governance actions like reporting and progress monitoring in public meetings on a quarterly basis, is committed to being honest about the historical disinvestment in black children's education and to chart a path forward. Our responsibility and our
098promise is to do right by our children. Board member Blaze. Thank you, board member Brown. Um as many of you already know, the committee launched its membership application on November 24th. We extended the application deadline to Monday, December 22nd at 5:00 p.m. So, if you've if anybody um who hears this meeting is interested in applying, now is the time to submit your application. You should also send it to your friends. That's what I'm doing. I'm text texting folks and emailing folks just to get the word out so we have lots of folks to choose from. We plan to appoint 14 members in early 2026. Membership is open to a broad range of Chicago Public Schools stakeholders. However, you must reside within the city of Chicago. We're and we're committed to conducting a fair and transparent
099process for selecting members. The application process includes an initial screening and scoring methodology. If you are interested in applying, visit the board's website at cpsboe.org to apply online. Um we remain committed and hopeful about this important step that the board is taking to provide black students with the maximum opportunity for educational success. And and I would argue um it's an opportunity to provide all students with um a maximum opportunity for educational success because what we do for one, we will do for all. If we focus and we get this right for all of our black students, we're going to do better by all of our students. Um this program is very dear to my heart. It is very important um in in the history of CPS, but also in the in the national conversation as
100well. Um so, I'm very proud to be a part of this organizing uh committee. And and I'm very excited that folks are um answering the call. We have over 100 applications already. Um so, please get your applications in um as as soon as you can. We appreciate everyone's continued engagement and look forward to sharing more good news in the near future. Thank you. Thank you very much. We also have an update on our Special Education Advisory Committee. Uh members Pope and member Boyle, please proceed with the update. Good morning, everybody. Uh board member Boyle and I have some really good news we'd like to share. Myself as serving 21 years in CPS classrooms, I'm honored to be a co-chair of this board's Special Education Advisory Committee, which was first launched in August of 2023. This
101committee provides structured input on policies, programs, and services and elevates issues that the board needs to attend to, strengthening transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement across special education through effective governance. For anybody that is interested in becoming a part of this committee as a member, we announced this week the opening of our membership application. Applications will be accepted online through Monday, January 12th at 5:00 p.m. Membership is open to a broad range of Chicago Public Schools stakeholders. However, you should note that applicants must reside within the city of Chicago. Uh board member Boyle will now uh tell you a little more about the process. Hi, everybody. Um you know, I worked 35 years in CPS schools, most of them as a school psychologist working closely with special education students and their families. I'm honored to co-chair
102the board's Special Education Advisory Committee alongside my colleague uh board member Pope. And for individuals who are interested in becoming a member of the committee, please be advised that candidates must also demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that the experiences and needs of our students with disabilities and their families are represented in all of the decisions that we make. You can go to the board's website at cpsboe.org and apply online. You may also direct any questions to Debbie and I at b o e s e a c at cps.edu. Thank you. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank everyone who, you know, puts extra effort in to stand these committees up. Uh they don't do so on their own. It's an incredible amount of work that goes into establishing a process for
103community engagement and to push these initiatives forward within the district. So, hats off to everyone who's putting that extra commitment in. We really appreciate it. This month, we have student voice round table presentation. Uh we are very privileged to have member Singleton present to us uh this morning. The floor is yours, ma'am. Okay. Okay, good afternoon, board members. >> Um also, good afternoon, CEO King and my fellow students. Uh my name is Destiny Singleton and I am a 12th grader at intern Ogden International High School. Um and I'm super passionate about advocacy, especially in the mental health space. Um and in my personal background, mental health hasn't always been a priority. So, it makes me want to change this kind of culture and shift to something better. I consider myself to be a somewhat introvert.
104So, that has led me to be bulldozed over when speaking about things I'm passionate about. So, that's why I think it's so important for people to speak up for themselves and others. I'm coming to you as a student fresh off of college application season. Um recently overcoming sickness this week and completing all my final exams. And I actually submitted my last final at 11:57 p.m. last night. So, that is a testament. [Applause] That is a testament to how important this topic is to me to be here. Um so, please give me some grace today. Today's agenda consists of the student voice table initiative overview, student voice round table mental health snapshot, round table key takeaways, and a call to action. Before we get started, I want to provide some background information. The Board of Education
105partners with the Department of Student Voice and Engagement to host three round table discussions and three public presentations to the Board of Education during the 2025 to 2026 school year. The intent of the collaboration is to work in alignment with the initiative of developing avenues to elevate authentic student voice based on the lived experiences of Chicago Public Schools and create a space for inclusive partnership between adults and students. On September 16th, the board and the Department of Student Voice and Engagement hosted a student round table on mental health. For context, 12 students from nine CPS high schools were in attendance. Student participants included the 2025 to 2026 honorary student board member, aka me, um some of the top honorary student board applicants, and also a few student voice committee members. Adult participants included board members
106and CPS staff. There were several key objectives of this round table, but the main objectives were to build a space where students could come together and create a shared meaning on the topic of mental health. And for the board to learn from students about student mental health to better inform their decisions and stance as board members. This school year, we had a record-breaking amount of students of that applied for the honorary student board member role. And majority of them listed mental health as a top priority in their applications. This inspired us to create a space for some of the top applicants to have their experiences be voiced. There are several reasons why mental health matters, as stated on the slide. Mental health is incredibly crucial to everyday life. It is at the center of everything
107that you do. It impacts how you interact with others, and it's something that students care a lot about. Now, let's dive right into the following key takeaways that came up from students that were present at the round table. I have been in communication with the students to inform this presentation. First, it was incredibly enlightening to be in this space to learn from each other as students, to be heard, and to be related to, and to be affirmed by each other. Second, there are a lot of key factors that impacts student mental health that include academic pressure, lack of safety as young people living in Chicago dealing with gun violence and bullying, pressure to participate in juggle extracurriculars along with academics and life as a whole. As students, we believe that understanding these emotions and communicating
108them and learning how to manage them effectively is an important skill that students want to learn. The results people often see surrounding mental health, where whether that be shootings, outbursts, or more commonly known among students as crash outs, isn't a one-time thing. It's a long-ticking time bomb with a lit fuse that can be defused properly with education. We must also acknowledge that sometimes discussing mental health doesn't feel safe because of stigmas. And as young people, we speak differently about mental health compared to older generations. And we often often feel shared to share our experiences surrounding mental health due to shame and experience and our feeling like our experiences will be invalidated by different cultures and adults as a whole. Some other key takeaways that we noticed were there were lots of inequities in terms of
109the level of communication, engagement, and awareness students from different schools get regarding mental health resources CPS offers within schools. This undermines a lot of the work that CPS has done to help students. One of the points that came up during the present during that round table was that students from larger schools weren't aware of the Hazel Health counseling services versus my experiences where resources are publicly displayed and communicated to students via email. Another thing we noticed that was some school counselors within high schools primarily give academic and post-secondary help. And many students feel like they can't go to them when they're having a mental health issue. While within my school, I feel comfortable going to my school counselors for mental health support. Shout out to my school counselors, Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Croston at Ogden
110International. Um but other students feel like they don't have anyone to turn to. While CPS gives five mental health days per year to students, they feel like they can't take that without coming back to school and there being a mountain a mountain of work on their back that makes their mental health even more worse. So, it effectively defeats the purpose of taking the mental health day. Lastly, here's our call to action to all adults, educators, and leaders to keep at the top of their minds in their roles. First, students do not understand what it's like to be a teenager in 2025, where violence is on the rise, social media is everywhere, and immense pressure students are under can have a lasting negative impact. So, when you interact with students, please show us love and kindness
111and empathy. Secondly, use CPS social media to advertise mental health resources because there's an opportunity to expand this outreach there. Well, last but not least, let's explore the idea of having an official mental health day in CPS so everyone can get a break without feeling like everyone else has moved on without them. This was my very first round table ever, but even more specifically as the honorary student board member. So, it was so exciting and I was so grateful to be in this space and to be a listening ear and now be able to amplify the stories and experiences I heard to the board. The next steps being taken is hosting another mental health round table in early 2026, where I am happy to announce that I will be a co-facilitator and the next student
112presentation will include other student leaders. Thank you all very much. This concludes my presentation. [Applause] Member Singleton, we really appreciate your leadership here and I look forward to working with you personally on expanding that mental health that concept. I think that's spot on. Are there any other comments from the board? You're fantastic and we made the right decision in inviting you to the board. Absolutely. Appreciate your leadership. Thank you. Member Brown. I had my hand up first. Real quick, Ms. Singleton, are there other issue areas that you all are thinking about doing round tables about? Sean. Hello, everyone. My name is Mildred Garcia. I am the student voice and leadership manager for the Department of Student Voice and Engagement and I'm very lucky to be able to partner with the Board of Education and specifically
113with Destiny on this initiative. For this school year, based on what we learned from the honorary student board member applicants, we saw this passion and the sense of urgency for the topic of mental health. And so, we're going to continue to engage in the topic of mental health with different emphasis and focuses. So, for the month, so early 2026, we're going to be focusing on mental health with the the current impact on immigration. Okay. >> And we'll continue to learn, grow, and expand from there. Member Paul. I'm sorry. I just want to say it's just really thank you for that. And it's the the topic of mental health, the young people that I engage with, my son being one of them, like I wanted to understand like why was Rod Wave so popular as an
114artist. Like young people love Rod Wave and they call and but when you listen to his music, it's like he's a therapist. You know what I mean? And so, they listen to his music that talks about getting out of depression and things of that nature, but it also speaks to what's lacking in regards to infrastructure in our society. So, I was just curious about one, was there anything else being discussed and then just had me reflecting on the the mental health piece. So, that was it. Member Paul. Yeah, I really want to commend you for taking this topic on and for working with a wide variety of students and young people around the city on this topic. So often it's a topic that is shrouded in shame and embarrassment and a topic that people feel
115like, "Oh, I will be judged if I acknowledge that I'm struggling and that I'm having problems." I think elevating it in this way and talking about it is super important. I'm really glad you're doing this. I have a background in mental health myself. I have a master's in couple and family therapy that I got at the Adler School, which is right here in this building, and I think that nurturing our mental health, taking care of ourselves as individuals, as family units, as community members, is vitally important to empowering us to take the steps that we need to to make our society more responsive, to improve conditions of living, working together, cooperating on the kinds of projects that can move us forward as a school district, as a city, and as a nation. So, thank you
116for being an important part of this and I hope to be able to join you for your next discussion. Member Lopez and then we'll close with Member Boyce. Thank you. For for the students that are interested in participating in the next round table, uh is there any information that could be shared or would this be sent over to the schools? Um also, thank you for your leadership and helping lead those conversations. I know there was various activities that also happened. I just uh verbal discussions, but there was engagement and thank you for the board staff for putting it together. Yeah, thank you. That is a great question. So, we currently have an open uh sign-up form interest form for any student that wants to participate in the round table and we are socializing that um
117through our school principals, but also our student voice committee network. I would love if it's possible for the board staff um to re-bump it in our emails. I would love to share that given the topic for next discussion. I'm sure myself and board member Losano want to circulate that among the schools in our district. Thank you. >> Yes, that's awesome. Thank you for the support. Um I just want to put a spotlight on what our um student board member Destiny said that the many of the youth don't feel safe because the adults around them don't respect mental health and their need to feel better and their desire to go through the process of uh of processing emotional um wha- whatever they're going through. I just want to say I'm sorry. Um we grew up wrong.
118We were all told to suck it up and to get at it and so, we're still learning what we need to do to take care of ourselves, but I I would just like I would just like to underscore to everybody um that when you can't I find myself protecting my kids from my parents. When you can't stick up for your kids um and and and in in within the school context as well, just understand that there um they need protecting on a variety of levels. Um and and I heard you. We heard you. We We hear you. So, thank you for sharing here. This is why it's so important that you're here. This is why we jumped up and down and clapped really hard when you got here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank
119you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
120you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
121you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
122Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank
123you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
124Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
125Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
126Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
127Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
128Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
129Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
130you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
131you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
132you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
133Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
134Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
135Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
136Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
137Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
138you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
139you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
140Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
141you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
142you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
143you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank
144you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
145you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
146you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
147you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank day. In fact, I frequently had perfect attendance. That isn't so Donald Trump won his second term as president. I know that my attendance numbers would dip. That my families would stop sending their children to school and the students who have been in my classroom every day would be missing for days at a time without word, no notice, but plenty of fear. Greg Bolvino is back in our city wrecking havoc, fear, and intimidation. That's what this administration knows, cruelty. Yet, I am back here again because we still do not have a solution for the students who do not come to school because of the fear of being kidnapped in their communities. A WBZ report recently highlighted that the days that with the largest attendance
148dips in our district coincided with increased ICE activity. You cannot expect our educators and school families to act as though these are normal times. They are not. In fact, acting as though this administration is behaving normally, as though being kidnapped in your community is normal, capitulates to the administration and their authoritarianism. We are grateful for the partnership around training for our educators with sanctuary and safety teams. We still need your partnership for solutions for our students as we know that this administration is not done terrorizing the people of Chicago. We have suggested several ways to intervene and support our students in this moment of crisis as their families are being terrorized by federal agents. We have questions as to why virtual options are still not being recommended through the virtual academy where educators are ready
149and willing to support our students. We have questions as to why we have not heard of a plan that includes central office workers working through the next few weeks to make those phone calls, to make those house visits, to ensure that our families have access to reliable internet and Chromebooks. What is the status of reaching out to ISBE for these extenuating circumstances that impact so many of our students? Our students want to learn and their families value their education. As educators, we were asked to go above and beyond and provide conduct interventions to make sure our students came to school. Right now, we're seeing more from community members coming together to make sure our students make it to school with walking school buses and mutual aid. And from students like those at Solorio High School
150who typically fundraise to give dreamers access to scholarship, now turn to use those very same dollars to help Solorio students with parents who've been detained or deported to pay rent and other expenses. We need to see a concerted effort from this body to provide the interventions that we see coming from educators, community members, and students. It is also not normal to act as though what is going on in our charter spaces is acceptable. We have been here countless times regarding charter operators who have been irresponsible with students, communities, and families in their care. Charter operators continue to fail their school communities. Aspira, in addition to Epic, Acero, and Shay Arts, is facing uncertainty about the remainder of the school year. Your advocacy thus far has stabilized them to reach winter break. And then what? It
151is the responsibility of Aspira and CPS to create a plan that sustains these schools until the end of this year and directs a path for their future. Our students will leave for winter break on Friday not knowing if they will have a school to return to in January. Are we really going to allow Aspira to hide property away and then beg you all for more money? Your charter resolution requires financial responsibility and regular feedback and oversight. This board recognized the importance of uninterrupted provision of educational services to students by operators of charter schools. The students, parents, teachers, and staff need your support to ensure stability for their schools for the remainder of this school year. And as we discuss much-needed resources for my our migrant communities and for our charter families, I would be remiss
152if I did not also highlight the resources needed by schools like Bright Elementary School. The educators and families have long requested safe passages. We know that they will now have that through the end of the school year. That's good news. And they still do not have a restorative justice coordinator. The educators still have not had support or training around restorative justice principles. To then hear that these students and families who have long been neglected are being expelled by a district who did not provide for them. And these are young children at that. This is astonishing. What message are we giving to young people when we do not provide them adequate support, but when they demonstrate the extreme need for social emotional learning and restorative justice, instead, it is decided to expel them? Lastly, with yesterday's
153news of Trump's administration slashing the funding for community schools, once again, we implore you to join us in active effort to secure the nearly $2 billion we are currently owed by the state. We are at an important crossroads. We either pretend that everything happening is normal and become complicit with the federal administration, or we stand up against the Trump regime and authoritarianism and provide the sort the supports that this district desperately needs. Let's work together to provide access to learning to the families who are terrorized. Hold charter operators accountable and provide restitution to the schools that have long needed your support. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is John Colon, CTU Charter Division Chair, who is here in person. Good afternoon, members of the board and CEO King. I stand
154before you today to once again advocate for our charter and contract school communities. Our schools are full of dedicated educators and families who want the best for their children. But unfortunately, this year has been full of uncertainty for students and educators. We're grateful that this board chose to keep Shay Arts open by making it a district-managed school after its charter management chose to close the school without a word to families, staff, or community. Thank you for listening to families and staff about the uniqueness of this school. I want to raise an issue that is also an issue for educators at the five Acero schools transferring to the district next year, and that is health insurance. Staff will be laid off from their current employer and without insurance until September, according to CPS. This will pose
155a major issue for folks with significant or chronic health conditions. Our goal is to provide stability and keep our school communities whole. So, I urge CPS to consider options that would allow educators and staff at transitioning schools to have health insurance in August. Next, let's talk about Aspira. You'll get a chance to hear from parents today. You've heard from Aspira educators at the last few board meetings, but today, despite the threat of going unpaid over the holidays, they're in the midst of final exams, finalizing grades, and supporting students. So, I'm here on their behalf. Aspira says they do not have the money to continue operations, despite being given the same funding that all other charter schools receive to run their schools, and despite having the same funding on average as district schools, and despite owning
156millions of dollars in assets that school funding has helped support. We appreciate that CPS has advanced funds so Aspira could remain open after Thanksgiving, but we are once again in a crisis. Aspira says they do not have funds for payroll on December 26th. We know CPS has concerns and questions about Aspira's finances. So, do we. As CPS works to analyze Aspira's finances, we hope you will continue to advance quarter three and quarter four funds. But at some point, there will not be more money to advance. So, we urge the district to work with Aspira to develop a plan for how to sustain their operations until the end of the school year. The stress and instability of not knowing whether Aspira schools will be open in the months ahead is not fair to students or staff.
157The thought that high school seniors may not be able to graduate from the school at the end of the year should be unacceptable to all of us. Aspira's financial issues point to broader issues in the charter sector. Charters popped up 20-plus years ago on the idea that families should have more choices and that competition would would somehow improve schools. Charter operators believe schools who recruit more students should get more money. Charter operators could do more with less. Top-heavy administrative structures are just fine. The voices of parents and teachers through their LSCs and unions are barriers to progress. And public school funds getting tied up in private investments in real estate and bondholders is acceptable. But now that fewer students are enrolling in charter schools, the bottom is dropping out and charter families and educators are
158paying the price. Every board meeting for the last year and a half, we've been talking to you about one charter school or another that's in crisis. But we can't put out one fire at a time anymore. These problems are structural. We've watched multiple charter operators run into financial crisis after school funds found their way into real estate investments, choose to close their doors without so much as a conversation with students, families, and educators they're meant to serve, threaten to close their doors mid-year leaving high school seniors potentially unable to graduate unless the Board of Ed met operator demands for millions of dollars. These aren't coincidences that came out of nowhere. CPS was warned it was coming. These are structural problems and they will continue. We appreciate your support in our fight to protect our students,
159our schools, and the district, but what we really need are solutions. The educators who dedicate themselves to these schools must be treated as important partners in an effort to reform the system. We need CPS to treat us and families as partners and stakeholders instead of choosing to speak to the corporate leaders and industry lobbyists like INCS who are often not in a position to represent our school communities' needs. So, board members, we ask that you push Aspira to create a plan and find a creative solution that ensures Aspira doesn't close its doors mid-year. Think about the challenges of students and staff transitioning from a charter school to a district school, and again, find new solutions. And push CPS to get input from the real stakeholders on how to improve the system so that in future
160years, charter operators do not continue to announce mid-year that they do not have the funds to operate. You have 30 seconds remaining. >> Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Termaine Reeves, SEIU Local 73 Director of the CPS Division, who is here joining us in person. So, good morning, President Harden, board members, and Dr. King. Going to talk today about two important matters. Number one, if we go back to September of this school year, due to budget cuts, there was a tough decision to lay off the private custodians, which resulted in a worker deficit of 500 workers. Couple that with the 200 that were laid off the summer prior, so now we're looking at a 700 worker deficit. This has a a significant impact on the cleanliness of CPS schools
161and facilities. The remaining custodians that are working in the schools and the facilities have remained committed to the schools that they service, to the students that they service, and doing the best that they can possibly to keep those facilities clean, but still recognizing that worker deficit, we ask that you all as a board and that the and that the district recognize this loyalty and the hard work of trying to keep these buildings clean with a worker deficit that there is no negative impact or negative results on the upcoming mid-year evaluations um as a as a result of the work not being able to be completed to the standards that it normally would be had there been a complete workforce. Um so we ask that you gift these uh members, these workers who are working so
162hard and diligently and showing loyalty, you gift them with peace of mind knowing that, "Hey, we recognize you're doing the best that you possibly can. You're not going to be able to get the results that would normally be attained had the workforce been complete and restored. And so, just keep working the best that you can while the district works on getting enough funding to replenish and restore the workforce." The second thing I want to talk to you about is miscellaneous workers made a choice to organize and properly file with the labor board in order to join SEIU Local 73. We're asking that this board support those workers by gifting them zero opposition and demanding that CPS do not oppose these workers' right to unionize. Let them join our union. Let them advocate not only for
163themselves before the students that they service. They want simple things like a livable wage in the city of Chicago, health insurance, and the opportunity to lift their voice to raise concerns and issues that they see from their perspective that can help better the learning environments in the schools that they service. So, with that being said, grant these hard workers a very uh happy holiday season and in turn we wish you all the same. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. President Harden, we are now ready to call speakers from the speakers list and we will start with Peter Collins, speaker number one. This speaker and the next speaker is from Acero Charter Schools. My name is Peter Collins, an Acero teacher. Members of this board, please remind CPS of their obligation to every one of
164their students. Over the last years Acero and other CPS charter operators have closed schools. CPS has argued that they're limited in what they can do and therefore CPS uh has uh restricted their ability to mitigate the damage when there's failure. We actually just heard that language used in regards to Instituto. But my question is, how are they separate? CPS gives charter operators tens of millions of dollars every year and renews those charter contracts every few years. If there's serious issues at my school, CPS officials are involved. My students chose their school through GoCPS using CPS email accounts, which they also used to email my CPS account. There's an entire CPS department dedicated to overseeing charter schools. So, where exactly is the separation between CPS and its charters? The idea of separation seems to exist only
165when it's convenient, a fig leaf to absolve CPS of responsibility for charter failures so the people in charge can be promoted and move on. I sincerely hope someone ask Mr. Carmona about uh the decision to renew Instituto's charter while ISBE was screaming about the harm being done to CPS students. Look at the Acero transition. Teachers who have spent years, in some cases over a decade, educating CPS students are being told that when their schools become CPS schools, they're treated the same as brand new hires, losing health insurance and maternity leave benefits for a whole year. This is as shortsighted as it is unfair. These are not new teachers or new students. The only thing that's new is the label CPS is using to avoid responsibility for their failures to ensure that the people they trusted
166could be relied on. Teachers who are offered no benefits will take other jobs. So, who's the victim here? The students left behind in a destroyed school community. Don't let CPS officials walk away from a fire he helped start. This is far from the only example of CPS treating separation as an excuse to cover their failure. Take Acero Soto. After Acero closed schools mid-contract, they also made budget cuts, cutting all sport all after-school clubs and several sports. To try to increase our budget, our school increased and yet our attempts to discuss this resulting budget surplus with Acero have been met by silence. When CPS allows charter operators to use smoke and mirrors to keep money out of classrooms, who is the victim? Children. Charter or not, CPS has a moral obligation to protect them, not just
167when it's convenient. I urge this board to remind CPS leadership of their responsibility to protect all CPS students. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Roxana Contreras, speaker number 17. Good afternoon, President CEO and distinguished board members. My name is Roxana Contreras and I am proud parent of Rihanna Chiquete, a fifth grader at Acero Brighton Park. I have lived in Brighton Park community for about 25 years and I also have two older children. My oldest son is currently in college and my oldest daughter is attending Crane Medical Prep. Both of them are Both of them also graduate from Acero Brighton Park. I chose Acero Brighton Park after my child was attending CPS school and I wasn't satisfied satisfied with the education there. I decided to transfer them and since then I
168I have been grateful for the positive experience my children have my children have at Brighton Park. One of the things I appreciate most about Brighton Park is the smaller class size sizes and the teachers are dedicated to ensure students don't fall behind in all subjects. And they know every child by their name. This personal connection makes the school feel like a family and the communication between parents and teachers and outstanding. I am also a parent volunteer at the school. Last year I graduate graduated from parent comprometidos pre parent program and I attended civics for all. I have participated in various parent workshops throughout the school year and volunteer in school events like the annual field day. You have 30 seconds remaining. I enjoy I am a proud parent not only because they care for our
169children, but also because they care about us as parents. The school provides with valuable programs throughout the year helping us to learn and support our children both at home and at school. They also connect with us community resources available right here in our neighbors, which also been incredible helpful during these challenging times. In conclusion, I believe Acero should be grateful granted a a longer chapter renewal because our children deserve quality education allowing Acero to remain open giving our parents like like me the choice to send our children to a school that provides a stronger education and supportive communication right in our neighborhood. I kindly ask >> Please conclude your remarks. >> for your consideration renewing the contract for a longer period so that our families can experience all that Brighton Park has to offer. Thank
170you. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Haugan Elementary, Esther Pamrantz speaker number 12. Good afternoon. I am a proud Haugan parent and an LSC member. I provided you with two handouts. The top page shows you how CPS sees Haugan and the bottom page is our reality. Take a peek into this reality with me. On Monday, a CPS-contracted vision provider came to conduct vision screening. It's a critical part of the IEP area with enough space was the school stage. In that same room is where indoor recess is held during the winter. At the end of the first day, the provider canceled yesterday's visit because it was too loud. They refused to return again until recess is outside, which will be in March. The 40 students who are still untested, they won't
171have glasses until June. This incident demonstrates that Haugan's request to utilize the space formerly occupied by Aspira was not made out of selfishness, it was made out of desperation. When they denied our request, the Office of Portfolio Management claimed they did their due diligence. But their offer to help Haugan explore solutions to maximize space reveals that they relied heavily on CPS's outdated building utilization formula without acknowledging our student bodies' educational needs. When CPS repeatedly told journalists last week that Haugan is not overcrowded, they conveniently ignored the new CTU contract and their own guidelines for schools with preschool and specialized classrooms. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> If CPS followed its own current space utilization formula, Haugan's enrollment would be 1,013 students. We have 1,076. Even when properly applied, the current formula is deeply flawed. It pretends
172that each class, even preschool, bilingual, or special education, can function with the same number of students. It pretends that a magically ideal number of students enroll. It is applied to every building without taking into consideration the unique needs of the specific school community. Hogan students deserve equitable access to education. Please advocate for them. Hogan needs space to give its students a chance to thrive. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker, Marnie Willenson, speaker number two. Good afternoon. I'm also here for Hogan. I'm a civil rights attorney and a community member on the Hogan LSC. Um you just heard and you can see in front of you the evidence that we have uh that we are over capacity. Um we really truly ask you please board members walk the equity walk. We ask
173you to come to the school and see with your own eyes that we are out of space. We are over capacity. We have six closets being used by professionals. We have no school library. We have two counselors for a thousand students and those counselors are in what used to be the library offering social and emotional learning on a three by three three foot by three foot space on the floor. Please do not just listen to the information that you've been given by CPS using old formulas to suggest that we're not overcrowded when the conditions for our children are totally unacceptable. And I can tell you as a civil rights attorney I believe that there is discrimination and inequity and racism occurring here. CPS's principles in this book the five year strategic plan together we rise
174says that neighborhood schools are supposed to be prioritized. It says every student can rely on their neighborhood school as a strong option for their education journey. But apparently this does not apply to the poor brown migrant Hogan neighborhood where CPS is trying to contain our growth. Families are choosing Hogan. But rather than providing us with the space we need for our children, CPS is trying to constrain our growth by creating conditions that pressure families to choose another school. And then they're calling that choice. Choice means disinvestment in an already underprivileged uh community that has been disinvested in for years. We are asking you to please visit us, see with your own eyes, then direct CPS to allow us to use the fourth floor of a building that's a block away of us as a temporary
175stopgap measure. This is not co-location under the school code. This can be done by the board. This is not moving our school into another space. That's not co-location. You have it within your power to approve that. Please let us use the third floor of that building Please conclude your remarks. >> away from us as a temporary stopgap measure starting next year if not now. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tanea Haye, speaker number five. I'm sorry, Tanea Haye, speaker number five. Okay. Thank you. I'm Tanya Haye, president of Kids Too, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting students in areas such as educator sexual misconduct and online safety while advocating for parental involvement and evolving the role of school boards to be more active in representing the needs of students and their families. I'm
176here to talk about behavior that goes unchecked of educators and administrators that roam the halls of our Chicago public schools. With me is Anna Solano, a 2012 graduate from Little Village High School. This year Anna, and along with other courageous young women, shared their stories on NBC 5 Investigates series. However, we all know in this room that CPS has a history around this issue. Even with the establishment of the OIG office and the passage of legislation like Faith's Law, you need to do better. Lastly, I stand here today to represent our Illinois taxpayers looking for solutions. Two weeks ago you all approved a financial settlement to a survivor of sexual misconduct for 17.5 million dollars which made national news headlines. No amount of money will help this young woman reclaim the high school years that
177she should have had without an adult preying on her, assaulting her, and being a key driver to ending her pregnancies. She deserves everything. This landmark settlement comes at a time when you all are trying to figure out how to close a budget deficit. You have 30 seconds. >> on how you can be more fiscally responsible by reducing risk while improving student protection outcomes. Number one, reduce your liabilities. Do so by properly staffing the OIG office and accelerate the investigation process. Number two, update the collective bargaining agreement. You will stop spending money on predators being paid full salaries while they're being investigated. Number three, incentivize the adults to do their job to report. It'll save the board millions of dollars from an increase in its insurance premium due to negligence. The status quo is not working.
178Protecting predators does not make financial sense. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Chicago Collegiate Charter School. Tisha Robinson, speaker number six, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. President Harden, can we get a copy of those that statement? Can you leave us a copy and copy of your um statement that you just made? Tisha Robinson, speaker number six, who's joining us virtually. I'm here. Please proceed. Good afternoon, board. I appreciate you lending your ear. I am Tanisha Robinson, the proud principal of Chicago Collegiate Charter School, here asking for a five to seven year renewal to continue the good work we are doing in the community. We have met or exceeded all but one of CPS's standards across academics, finance, operations, and governance. So with that
179I respectfully request and frankly believe that we deserve a minimum of a five year renewal. For the first time in over decades the city of Chicago has significantly reduced its number of murders and I like to think that the work we are doing with the kids in Roseland has something to do with that. I came all the way from Chicago, Illinois from Houston, Texas because I believe in the mission and the vision of Chicago Collegiate Charter School and I understand the importance of doing impact work. At Chicago Collegiate we have graduated students with millions of dollars in merit scholarships and thousands of acceptances to four year colleges and universities. This effort must continue to keep going. We need you to grant us a five to seven year renewal if you too understand the importance of
180keeping kids in school and off the streets. The onus is upon you to help us to keep our city safe. Five to seven is the ask from Chicago Collegiate Charter School. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tiffany Daniels, speaker number 22, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Tiffany Daniels, speaker number 22, please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon. Thank you. Please proceed. Yes, please proceed. Thank you. My name is Tiffany Daniels and I'm the high school modern world history and performing arts teacher at Chicago Collegiate Charter School. My initial introduction to this illustrious academic nucleus came in 2014 when I was referred by the pastor of Roseland Christian Ministries to meet with the founder to offer my performing arts services to the school. Once becoming
181a part of the Chicago Collegiate family, I've witnessed how the rigorous curriculum and holistic approach to education empowered the students in this community. I've seen children go from deficient to determined. Our success rate is incomparable. What will elevate greater outcomes is our own building and our renewal. Our middle school and high school scholars have deserved the opportunity to achieve academic excellence in a building that is fully equipped with every necessary tool needed to grow and thrive. We have met or exceeded all but one of CPS's standards across academics, finance, operations, governance, and respectfully request with the minimum of a five year renewal. Thank you for allowing me to advocate for my school that has not only graduated over a hundred students with full ride college acceptances and millions of dollars in merit and academic scholarships,
182but also invest in the staff and families guaranteeing a purposeful and productive future. Thank you all so much and have a happy holiday. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from the Academy for Global Citizenship. Violeta Rangel, speaker number nine. Good morning. My name is Violeta Rangel. I am a class of 2021 Academy for Global Citizenship alumna. I am speaking on behalf of AGC today because its renewal supports a school that uplifts students, families, and my entire community. I was born and raised on the Southwest side of Chicago known as a brown and black community facing food insecurity, ICE threats, environmental and social injustices, and the list goes on. AGC taught me to be a social justice warrior with confidence and conviction to take on challenges to make my community and the
183world a better place. AGC is a human-centered place, and this is where I also learned the importance of mental health, compassion, and empathy. Thanks to AGC's IB and dual language programs and focus on the whole child through the wellness aspect, I am proud to say I am a current I am currently a freshman at Beloit College in Wisconsin. AGC's curriculum prepared me for leading college seminars while maintaining my sense of community in my heart. I am also a proud alumna who was in the first class to be in the dual language program. I am extremely thankful for being bilingual and biliterate as this is a way I reclaim my identity while my community is under attack. AGC instilled undeniable values within me. I can I constantly talk about how much I love AGC, and this
184is what inspires me to pursue a career in education. My plan is to come back to Chicago and be an art educator within the city. As I mentioned earlier, one of the things I love most about AGC is the constant commitment to students. At AGC, students are listened to, we are taught to be anti-racist, and we are prepared for post-secondary education. We are taught to reimagine education, rethink what school lunch could look like, and yes, we have the most amazing culinary program. I request that you think of my words in your decision to renew AGC, and I ask for the full 10-year renewal. AGC is a place where students are known, supported, and prepared for what comes next. I also ask for Gitu, Ed, Anusha, Emma, and Shawn to please visit AGC. Thank you. Thank
185you for your comments. The next speaker is Jacqueline Rodriguez, speaker number 27. Good afternoon, Superintendent King, President Harden, and the members of the board. My name is Jacqueline Rodriguez, and I am a parent from the Academy for Global Citizenship. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. AGC is a K through 8 school in the LeClaire Courts community neighborhood in the Southwest side of Chicago, where we serve almost 500 students, and I stand here asking this board to please grant the AGC the maximum 10-year charter renewal. I'm not just here asking for time. I'm here today, instead of doing my late uh Christmas shopping, because this is more important, and really and truly, this is the only gift I want uh for our school and our staff and our kids, and that is stability. I'm
186a very proud mother of one uh little girl, and each and every day I feel immense pressure to get her future right, to help her navigate her inner and outer world with courage and love and respect, while also encouraging her in the arts and the world at large, and AGC supports me in doing this. So, I'm here today in support of AGC staff, especially Principal Betania Salas, who is here with us today, and Principal Saskia Rumbaut, who is holding down the fort at school. Um as they think about the weight of the future of almost 500 children, I don't say this lightly as a mother, but I trust them. I trust them, and our kids are thriving, and not just as scholars, but as Violeta said, as whole humans. A 10-year term would allow staff
187to focus all of their heart-centered energy into the kids, instead of another three or five or seven-year renewal having to do it again. So, please get us off the renewal treadmill, and please come to Academy for Global Citizenship, um and give our children the gift of a stable 10-year future. Thank you for your time, and happy holidays to you all. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. The next two speakers are from Instituto Health Science Sciences Career Academy. Dessie Merrick, speaker number 10. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Dessie Merrick, and I am a special education teacher at ISKA, a charter high school with CPS. I have served students with disabilities in both instructional and leadership roles, and I'm committed to ensuring that every student receives the services and supports to which they are legally
188and ethically entitled. In my role, I provide special education instruction, implementation, and monitor IEPs, and collaborate closely with general education teachers, service providers, and families. My work is grounded in compliance, equity, and access, because when systems function well, students thrive. Over the past year, I've seen measurable progress in our special education program. Our systems are more structured. Collaboration has improved, service delivery has become more consistent. Internal progress monitoring shows increased student engagement, improved completion of assigned work, and stronger alignment between their IEP goals and our instructional practices. These improvements are not just procedural. They directly impact students. For example, I work with a student who previously struggled to engage in class and complete assignments due to unmet learning needs. Through consistent implementation of accommodations, targeted instruction, and coordinated support, that student is now regularly attending
189class, participating in instruction, and earning passing grades. This is the difference that effective special education services make. One of the strongest assets at ISKA is our special education team. Despite staffing challenges, this team remains deeply committed to students and families. We problem-solve collaboratively, advocate for program supports, and held ourselves to a high professional standards. We are honest about where improvement is still needed. We are proactive, transparent, and committed to strengthening systems so that the services are delivered consistently and sustainably. Continued staffing resources and institutional supports are essential to maintaining compliance. I am optimistic about the future of special education at ISKA. With continued board support and our goal of being a fully staffed sped team by the end of the year, we can continue to build a program that is not only compliant, but truly
190effective for our students. Thank you for your time and continued support and commitment to ISKA. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Jacqueline Gransart, speaker number 21. Good morning. My name is Jacqueline Gransart, and I am the school social worker at ISKA Health Science Career Academy. I'm here to share these remarks on behalf of our principal, Mr. Mendez, whose leadership we fully support. I am here today with a dedicated team committed to building a sustained and strong, compliant, and student-centered special education program. We want to begin by acknowledging the seriousness of the concern outlined in the ISBE sanctions level three letter. Our students deserve better. We are not here to dispute, but to provide context, accountability, and clarity about how we arrived at this moment, and more importantly, how we continue to address
191the concerns through ongoing work. ISBE completed its its initial investigation August 22nd, 2023 with findings that reflected practices during the 22-23 school year. Shortly before the start of the 23-24 school year, the school experienced the departure of its special education leadership and the entire special education department. This left the school without the infrastructure, personnel, or systems necessary to immediately provide services or corrective action. Rebuilding the special education department from the ground up is neither fast nor easy. Under Mr. Mendez's leadership, the work has been our highest priority. Over the past year, we have intentionally rebuilt staffing, systems, and oversight. Today, all core roles, including social work, case management, counselors, required paraprofessionals, are fully staffed, and additional paraprofessionals are in place. We currently have five of the eight special education teachers needed, with active candidates in
192the hiring pipeline. All related services are fully staffed, including OT, speech, psych, and bilingual psychologists, as well as nursing. We are now currently at 100% compliance for IEPs, annuals, and 504s. The progress we made reflects deliberate leadership, collaboration with district partners, and our continued commitment to the students with disabilities. While this letter reflects past failures, it does not fully capture the work that has been ongoing with systems now in place to prevent these issues from reoccurring. We respectfully invite the CEO, Dr. King, and members of the board to visit our school to see this work firsthand. Our door remains open, and we welcome your partnership as we continue this work. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Intrinsic Charter School. Jocelyn Jocelyn Vega, speaker
193number 11. Good afternoon. My name is Jocelyn Vega and I'm the lead post-secondary counselor at Intrinsic Schools. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak today and to share why Intrinsic's work and our request for a 7-year renewal matters deeply to our students and families. As a charter school, Intrinsic is able to intentionally prioritize post-secondary planning in ways that are truly student-centered. Beginning in ninth grade, all of our students visit two colleges every year through 11th grade. We also create opportunities for students to explore workforce programs and the trades ensuring that every student can envision a future aligned to their interests and goals. In my role, I support a caseload of approximately 30 students. This allows me to truly know my students, to understand their academic needs, their family circumstances, and their post-secondary aspirations. I work
194closely with both students and parents helping families navigate complex processes like the FAFSA and college decision-making. Our counseling team, four counselors serving 150 seniors, is constantly researching programs, scholarships, and opportunities to ensure students have access to the best possible options. We also collaborate closely with our special education team to ensure students with disabilities have post-secondary plans that are appropriate, supportive, and individualized. I genuinely enjoy working at Intrinsic. I am supported by strong colleagues, thoughtful administrators, and deeply engaged families. Because of Intrinsic's structure and partnership, we are also able to offer scholarships to our students through recurring donations. Last year alone, we awarded 180 renewable scholarships, significantly reducing students' out-of-pocket costs to an average of 3,000 per year. You have 30 seconds remaining. >> Intrinsic is up for renewal and we are requesting a 7-year renewal.
195I believe this is the is in the best interest of our students. Our students enter Intrinsic in seventh grade and deserve the stability of knowing their school is approved for the full length of their middle and high school experience. Finally, I want to share that I am a proud product of a Chicago charter school myself. As a first-generation college student, my family relied heavily on the support of my school, which helped me to choose to attend the College of Wooster. I am a living proof of what strong charter schools can do and I see that same impact every day at Intrinsic. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Nathan Salgado, speaker number 19. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nathan Salgado. Today, I am honored to
196speak about Intrinsic Schools Belmont Campus, a place that has played a major role in my life. I attended Intrinsic Belmont from seventh through 12th as I graduated as a class of 2022. I'm currently now a senior majoring in general marketing at Illinois State University. I'm here to express the impact that an experience that still carries with me along to this very day. What make What makes Intrinsic Belmont truly special is it's committed to high expectations paired with real support. As a student there, I was challenged to think critically, manage my time, and take responsibility for my learning. The teachers didn't just provide lessons to us, they invested in us. They pushed us to grow while while making sure we felt supported. Another defining strength of Intrinsic Belmont is the strong sense of community for all.
197As a student, I felt seen and valued and that sense of belonging didn't didn't end at graduation. The involvement of connections and built here continues to influence my life today. The values of discipline, accountability, and perseverance taught at Intrinsic still guide me along the way to approach the challenges and opportunities. Intrinsic Belmont prepares students not just for the next for the next grade, but beyond high school. The The skills I gained, self-advocacy, responsibility, and confidence continue to shape the person who I am today. As a Mexican-American or Latino, first generation to attend college, it is a very amazing to see how far I've come personally for not only from the support of my family, >> Mr. Mendez, but the friends as well that I have grown at from Intrinsic Schools. Intrinsic Schools is a is
198also not only a building, but they are also a community. We are here today to respectfully ask for a 7-year renewal so that Intrinsic can continue to grow providing a high-quality education and opportunity to the future generations of students. Thank you so much for your time and consideration and happy holidays. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Jim Furman, speaker number 13. Good afternoon. I'm Jim Furman, Associate Provost at the University of Chicago. I'm here to respectfully ask the board to approve a minimum 5-year renewal for the University of Chicago Charter School. You've received many letters of support from our community describing the impact UChicago Charter has had on students' lives and that impact is reflected throughout our renewal application materials. In my brief remarks today, I want to focus on the University
199of Chicago's investment in and long-term commitment to education. After more than 27 years of operation, UChicago Charter remains a primary focus of that investment. We provide operational and governance support, financial stability, and programmatic partnerships that strengthen teaching, learning, and student well-being. Research conducted at the University directly informs practice and university-based programs prioritize our students. Some examples include tutoring and enrichment through the Neighborhood Schools Program and Maroon Tutor Match. Students participate in pipeline and college access efforts including the Collegiate Scholars Program and conduct research for capstone projects with the support of our library system and staff. Through the University's Kersten Institute for Urban Education and its two-in-three project, we analyze high school milestones and post-secondary outcomes to strengthen support and college persistence for our graduates. In addition, researchers and faculties at the University focused on addressing
200issues such as chronic absenteeism and student mental health engage directly with and support our staff. One example of this is the development of a program focused on mental health and suicide prevention for middle schools. >> 30 seconds remaining. These partnerships align with our school's strategic priorities, which are instructional coherence, strong school environments, and student engagement. As a result, this year we have seen improved attendance across our campuses and have launched a stronger instructional coaching model. We have maintained stable enrollment, clean audits, and strong governance throughout our current charter term. A 5-year renewal will allow the school and CPS and the university together to continue this work with focus, stability, and accountability. I respectfully urge you to grant a 5-year charter renewal for UCCS. Thank you for your leadership and your service to CPS students and
201families. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Katherine Jones, speaker number 14, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes, please proceed. >> Please proceed. >> Yes. Good afternoon. I am Okay. I am Katherine Jones. Good afternoon, President Harden and CEO King and other distinguished members. I would like to come on and thank uh uh CEO uh King and President Harden for your visit to our school. I am I was greatly appreciated that you all took my offer and came out. I just hate that I was not there to to greet you all, but we will meet each other soon. So, thank you and staff, really thank you and the students. And I have one more uh issue that I have. I'm not
202going to go into the whole detail, but I am requesting a overall audit audit um done at Douglas Frederick Douglas High School. I have asked for some uh different information and I have not received it. I have contacted Chief my chief and he's not responding to me or my community member. We have asked him to to call up and I had a relationship with him. I don't know what the issue is, but uh he's not responding to to me at all and I I I don't like what's going on. We have not voted on our budget. I hate to say all this online, but I am very disappointed and upset as a LSC local school council member for over 25 years, you all, and dedicated to my Austin community and we cannot get these things
203done. I asked for different things and I was told I cannot get it. I have never heard that before. Uh local school council uh uh uh members >> Okay, thank you. Local school council members uh uh uh educators within principal to work along with the budget and tenants and everything. I have never heard a interim principal tell me something like this before. So, I am uh requesting this board, CEO and you and and uh and President Harden to uh contact uh me or or contact us and let us know what can we do. I've been calling the audit department. I have no response from there. I don't understand. I have been calling for the last 2 weeks. Left messages and email and no one has respond to my email. So, what is the LSC member
204supposed to do Please wrap up your comments. >> resources if we are not getting resources from the people that's over us. So, what is being done? Uh please contact me and let me know uh the process what to do. God bless each and every one of you all and have a merry and a happy happy Christmas in the process meeting. Bye-bye. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers >> The next two speakers are from the Chicago High School for the Arts. Casey Weldon, speaker number 18. >> Good morning. I'm Casey Weldon, a visual arts conservatory instructor at ChiArts. As we transition to a CPS-run school, I'm here to ask you for the gift of security. That a commitment is made in writing to retain our teachers and staff. As you are aware, our
205city is under attack. My heart is heavy and with those who are missing loved ones right now. When I say I don't want federal agents in our city this winter, I know you agree. Stability and security really are so precious. When I was in high school, I saw my teachers significantly more than I saw my parents. Sometimes teachers are the only consistent figures a student may have in their life. After the news dropped that the ChiArts board and foundation wouldn't apply for renewal, a collective pit of anxiety brewed in the school's belly. Students and teachers began a unified movement and one phrase was reiterated again and again. Save ChiArts. Our students deserve consistency and the courtesy to be able to finish what they started. Do not take away their teachers and staff or make their
206teachers reapply and re-interview as you were doing with the Orozco's. Stability is not always something we can give our students in this current world. But you can help us give it here by retaining our teachers and staff. We also know that the path to stability is not through philanthropy only model or reliance on the ChiArts Foundation. You can gift us security and consistency by fully funding the conservatory. It doesn't make sense to rely on philanthropy and expect different results when this is how we got here. Please give us a stable conservatory budget that comes from CPS and confirm you will keep our school whole. After all, it isn't saving ChiArts if the ChiArts conservatory programs, teachers, and staff are not funded and secured. Thank you for your service and consideration. Happy holidays. Thank you for
207your comments. Our next speaker is Rebecca DeSalvo, speaker number 29, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon, President Harden, members of the board, and Dr. King. My name is Rebecca DeSalvo. I'm the parent of a ninth grade musical theater scholar artist at ChiArts and a member of the ChiArts Parent Advocacy Committee. While I cannot be with you in person today, Caroline Rutherford and Megan Peet have provided each of you with a copy of a funding proposal developed by our committee. This proposal is our direct response to this board's directive to work with CPS to identify alternative funding sources that will state sustain the nationally recognized ChiArts Conservatory program. As you know, this program is the heartbeat of the school, providing the pre-professional training that makes our students competitive on a
208global stage. Last Thursday, December 11th, our committee met virtually with Interim Chief Conrad Timbers, Executive Director Cesar Rodriguez, Michael Boraz, and members of the I&I team to present these solutions. This meeting was a vital first step. It opened a necessary dialogue about how we build a sustainable future for ChiArts as it transitions to CPS management. We are encouraged by the initial engagement, but the work is just beginning. The ChiArts community is not asking for support. We are showing up as active partners in solving the financial puzzles ahead. Our goal is simple, to ensure that the transition to a CPS school model does not result in the dilution of the school's conservatory excellence. Funding is only one piece of this puzzle. True sustainability requires stability for our people. It is essential that the community voice remains
209central to the principal selection process. Our families and students deserve a teacher who teacher a leader who understands the unique intersection of rigorous academics and professional arts training. We must also protect educators who define our school. We urge CPS to immediately provide stability to our teachers and teaching artists by making a clear public statement regarding their job security. With will the discussion about funding for the conservatory happen in January as previously discussed with the initial resolution? Important steps need to be taken to ensure that ChiArts is heading into next school year with the strongest possible position. We ask the board to continue prioritizing this transition so that our scholar artists can focus on what they do best, creating, performing, and thriving. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to the arts in our
210city. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Teresa Contreras, speaker number 20. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh this speaker is not here. Edith Villaseñor, Señor, speaker number 28. Good afternoon, CPS board and CEO King. My name is Edith I am an aspirante, graduate from 2009. I stand before you today with my heart wide open. I am a proud aspirante alumni from the class of 2009. This school did not just educate me, it saved me. Aspira saw my potential when the world was quiet about it. It gave me confidence, purpose, and a future I could believe in. Today is the same future is sitting in this classroom. My son is not a freshman at Aspira Early College. My godson is a freshman, too, and I stand here not only as alumni, but as
211a mother and a godmother fighting with everything in me for the children I love. I am here alongside my godson's mother because this fight is not mine alone. This is about our children, their dreams, their safety, their education, their right to a school that believes in them. Aspira is not just a building, it is a refuge, a foundation, and a promise that is our our kids can rise higher than their circumstances. We are asking you, please, from the deepest place in our hearts, help our children's school financially. Do not lack Do not let the lack of funding silence the potential. Do not let opportunity slip away from the children who are ready to work, learn, and to lead. When you fund Aspira, you fund hope. You fund future. You fund generations. I also know Miss
212Emma Lozano, a board member here. I believe in the in the power of leadership standing shoulder to shoulder with families, with educators, parents, and community. Leaders come together, we become unstoppable. So today, I ask you to stand with us, to stand for our children, stand for their education, stand for our future where no child is left behind because of our finances, because this school once stood for me, and now I will always stand for it. Once an aspirante, always an aspirante. Thank you. Happy holidays. Thank you for your comments. And the last speaker from the speakers list is Devonte Richardson, speaker number 30. Devonte Richardson, speaker number 30. It looks like that speaker has uh left the meeting. We do have an elected official who would like to address the board. Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez
213from the 25th Ward, uh who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, please proceed. Yes, good uh good uh afternoon, members of the board, and uh CEO Smith. I uh I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your service and important work in city council and the board working together. So essential today more than ever for our children. I want to first um I want to bring to your attention, especially CEO Smith, I'm a little concerned about the lack of mention about ICE um operations around schools in particular. I think it's very important that CEO Smith uh takes a strong and open public position on the matter because it affects vast majority of kids in our district. Our kids cannot be invisible, neither they
214will be dehumanized by mercenaries who come to pick up and kidnap families, separate families, and deal with trauma. We are working very hard in the Chicago City Council so that the Chicago Public Schools receive the TIF surplus that needs and deserves because we believe in public education for every single child. So I would like to see CEO Smith more on the ground to make sure the facilities Alderman uh You are addressing You should be addressing Dr. King as the CEO. Dr. King, my apologies. And my my uh and thank you. And the other thing is important that we as a as a city and a as a board of education work diligently to make sure that we do not allow billionaires billionaires that are coming and literally buying city council members that just yesterday were
215willing to put our city in the brisk and the risk of risk of a shutdown just for donations. There are donations that I hope they return soon as we open an inspector general investigation. My hope is that we together together with Dr. King the board of education and city council work together in the best interest of our children. A balanced budget that reflects the values, priorities, and aspirations of majority of Chicagoans who want corporations and billionaires to pay their fair share. That is still a fight pending, but I hope that the board of education join us in this fight so TIF dollars go in our schools to pay for the basic needs that all children need to have more in full services, librarians, clinicians, supported staff, and to stop the divide and conquer tactics that
216the previous CEO employed to divide workers to make sure that a billionaire agenda is imposed. Today more than ever we need to worry about every single child. Those same interests but and I'm going to be be clear, this is billionaire Michael Saks who used to be the war the Rahm whisperer who had no problem shutting down schools in black communities, who had no problem pushing an agenda that displaced 300,000 black neighbors. That's those are our neighbors. And because we have an accent, doesn't mean that we're stupid or we don't see what's happening. We see what's happening in our neighbors, we see what's happening in our communities, and together working people, if anybody in the board of education is a billionaire or anybody in the room is a billionaire, I'm not speaking to you. But I
217know for a fact that that billionaire class is a minority. The only minority destroying our country or public education system that is dismantling the Department of Education as we speak. I urge you to work together. We are going to fulfill the commitment of TIF surplus to our schools, and I urge you to work together with us with every member of the council, every teacher, and stop the demonization of teachers. Teachers are not the problem. The problem have always and continue to be a billionaire agenda that dehumanize, separate, divide, and I urge you, Dr. Smith, do not Dr. King, do not do not comply comply with those interests that are trying to divide our children, our families, and ultimately now they're even kidnapping us. I urge the board of education, let's take proactive actions on a
218good budget, a balanced budget, a budget that reflects the aspirations and priorities of our families. As a CPS, as someone who sends our kids to CPS, I believe on our public education system, unlike the billionaires like Michael Saks who have never even dared to put effort in a public education system. I dare him to try to lecture us. This is the time to stand up, and thank you so much for listening to the message from members of city council who believe that a new world is possible. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. President Harden, this concludes public participation. We'll now move into a short recess. Member Rio Sierra, do you have motion M01? Sorry, was not ready. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sweet. I move the board take 30-minute recess. I
219second the motion. Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? Aye. Member Lopez? Aye. Member Velez? Aye. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? >> Aye. Member Custer? Aye. Member Pope? Yes. Member Wilsenfeld? >> Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rio Sierra? Aye. Member Bannon? Aye. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? >> Aye. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Fotocara? >> Yes. Member Blais? >> Aye. Member Zackor? Yes. Member DeBerry? Aye. 20 ayes, zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. This meeting will now go into a 30-minute recess. >> Mhm. [Laughter] >> Yes, we're ready. The meeting of the Board of Education is reconvened. We'll now proceed with the business portion of the meeting once Dr. King returns. We're ready for the presentation. Dr. King, we're ready for your presentation.
220While you get ready, I'm just going to thank you for uh the wonderful poinsettias uh Dr. King and the the staff. They're very lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you for the flowering democracy that's taking place in this district. At this time uh we will have a presentation by our academic team leaders. Uh thank you Dr. King and members of the board. Uh today we want to provide a brief academic update on a few specific items. Uh SY25 outcome data current year attendance quarter one grades and early college and career credentials updates. Before we dive into the numbers I would like to provide some important context. When we look at CPS compared to the state we're serving larger populations of students with unique needs and significantly more students who are low income. We have welcomed
221many arrivals to our district over the past couple of years. Many of whom are English learners and need more specialized support. So when we are comparing to the state or when we say that we are outpacing the nation on things like K2 math achievement or college enrollment those achievement are even more incredible given that more of our students face barriers to success. It is also a testament to the fact that CPS needs to be so much more than just a school district. If we want our students to learn the primary needs have to be addressed and the public schools have really become the main public institutions in our community. We are the ones filling in the gap. We provide access to food, health care, counseling, help with benefits, safe haven for students, after school programming
222and so much more. And in this moment with our community is reeling from the impact of the deployment of federal forces we are doing more and more when it comes to public safety and the broader community beyond just our school grounds. So it's important to set that context for our discussion. Because we expend so much time talking about operations and federal activity we have to remember that the core function of a school district is to educate our young people. So now I turn it to Chief Milburn who will speak about our SY25 outcome data. Thank you. Good afternoon. Happy holidays. Nice to see you all. I want to start by going back to the curiosity classroom presentation uh that you had earlier this morning and acknowledge your comments about the importance of learning that is
223joyful, hands-on, and connected to students' community and the world around them. We all know that this is where the power is when it comes to accelerating learning. And you asked some really good questions about how we scale these types of experiences. So I want to invite you to visit yourstemjourney.org, one word, lowercase. This was created in partnership with CPS and Northwestern University's Digital Youth Network. It helps elevate the work of over 4,200 after school STEM partners. 15,000 community STEM programs and 1,100 community partners. It allows you to search opportunities for our students by school and by communities. And underscores STEM learning is not just math, science, technology, and engineering courses. I did that in the wrong order of STEM. But it is also about cooking, gardening, designing apps, and tackling climate change. It's interdisciplinary and
224integrates creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. We have an amazing ecosystem of partners that support work like what we heard about today with the Children's Museum and we have more in development. And this work is very much behind the progress we are going to talk about today and the ongoing investments we are focused on moving forward. Okay, we're going to start today with the progress of our earliest learners and look forward to building on this success. i-Ready is a short benchmark assessment that is given in most schools up to three times a year in both reading and math. It is meant to provide teachers with the information needed to support individual student learning and understand progress throughout the year. At the end of last year, 41% of our K to 2 students were at were at
225or above grade level in reading. We have seen small increases in proficiency in this level over the past 3 years. Although we are slightly below the national percentage of students at or above grade level, more of the students in CPS are at or above grade level in comparison to the Council of Great City Schools, which uses figures from the largest urban districts in America. CPS students have shown steady growth in math. 40% of CPS K to 2 students were at mid or above grade level in math at the end of last year. 17% were early on grade level, which means they were approaching the standards. We're excited about the steady progress we're seeing, including a six percentage points increase in percentage of students at or above grade level since school year 23. And we are
226proud to report that in our math data we're outperforming the nation when it comes to this metric. We're five points ahead of the national average in proficiency and eight points ahead of our large city peers. One of the more encouraging signs we see is that in both reading and math students do better the longer they stay in CPS. The data shown here are students' percentile placements, which are slightly different than the performance scores we were looking at previously and shows students' performance compared to the national average. As CPS students advance through the early grades, they do better relative to their peers across the country which is an encouraging sign for our early grade teaching and learning practices. Okay. Now we want to move on to the IAR data. As a reminder, almost every student in
227our system in grades 3 through 8 take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness every year. This test is unique to Illinois, so there are not national comparisons. As of this past year in English language arts, 40.6% of our students across grades 3 to 3 to 8, sorry, are proficient in reading in CPS on the IAR. And our highest performing grade last year was our 8th grade with 46% of students proficient. We're extremely proud of our growth since school year 22 with over 11 percentage points improvement. We also want to note that there has been a 15.4% point increase in proficiency for our black students over the same period of time, outpacing the average growth in our district. As a district we have intentionally used we intentionally used the millions of federal SR funds to invest in
228strategies focused on accelerating learning outcomes for our students. This included school-based coaches, interventionists, tutors, online intervention tools, and high-quality curriculum. This led to incredibly strong growth and our students now surpass the reading performance level from before the pandemic. At the same time we saw an 11 11 percentage point increase in proficiency, we saw similar growth when it came to improving outcomes for our lowest performing students. Last year, another 2.7% of students moved out of the below category. This isn't talked about as much as proficiency level, but it speaks to the hard work of moving students furthest below grade level where it's typically very hard to make gains. And when we look at our students with disabilities, we've seen an incredible decrease in the percentage of students in the below category. 23 percentage points of improvement
229in 3 years show how far our students with IEPs have come. This progress reflects our 5-year strategic plan improving the quality of education for students who are furthest from opportunity. And it also shows our intentional focus on supporting students with disabilities, another key focus of our 5-year plan. We are proud to see that the trend that was referenced in our primary data continues when students stay in CPS over time. This graph reflects all students who have been in CPS and completed the IAR for 4 years in a row. So, this could be students who are in who were in either third, fourth, or fifth grades in school year '22. These students overall have increased proficiency by 19.3 percentage points over 4 years. Improving from 29.4% proficiency in school year '22 to 48.7% in school year
230'25. This trend is consistent for English learners, students with IEPs, and all student racial and ethnic groups. Okay. And for math, since school year '22, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math has increased by 4.7 percentage points reaching 26.2% in school year '25. Math proficiency continues to rise with steady year-over-year gains among third through eighth graders. Nationwide math growth has been more of a challenge than reading and we're seeing that in CPS as well. We have a clear plan to address this. We have focused Tutor Corps on middle school math. We have built capacity of school-based coaches in math content. We have expanded access to algebra in eighth grade. We have more elementary school students engaged in high-quality math curriculum than ever before. We believe in this long-term plan to improve scores,
231and so does the state. Recently, ISBE announced a new numeracy plan to support math achievement across the state, and we're proud that the state's work was informed by our math leadership team and aligned with our math vision to ensure our students are building math identity and math proficiency. In math, the progression of growth for a cohort of students over the past 4 years has been smaller. Students who stayed in CPS across the 4 years saw gains each year except school year '23. And like in ELA, we are also tracking the growth of students in math who are furthest below grade level. We have seen a 7.5 percentage point decrease in this category over the past 4 years. We also note that our black students have seen a larger decrease in percentage of students in the
232below category. We are committed to continuing to invest in strategies that will support our priority groups of students ensuring that they reach success. I'd like to turn it over to Peter Leonard to talk about our high school data. Good afternoon, board members. Happy holidays. I'm here to provide just a brief update on our high school data. Now, for both I-Ready and IAR, you were able to look at trend data over years. We're not going to have that for high school because last year the Illinois State Board of Education shifted to a new assessment. So, the pre-ACT and ACT were administered for the first time last year, and ISBE redefined the performance levels. So, we're just going to look at last year's data, which is resetting our baseline. So, now in future years, we'll be able
233to look at our trends over time. So, first we're looking at grades 9 through 11 in pre-ACT and ACT for English language arts. You can see here that the percent of students demonstrating proficiency building on the trends you saw in IAR ranges from 41% to 49% with the largest being our ninth graders showing proficiency at 49%. And we look at that bottom level as Chief Milberg highlighted, we're really focused on not just raising students proficiency, but moving the whole distribution of performance. We notice that the below proficient range is from 16% to 29% with that largest number being in 11th grade. In math, similar to IAR, those percent proficiency lag a little bit behind in math as it relates to ELA. Just like with ELA, ninth grade performance saw the highest percentage demonstrating proficiency here
234at 28%. But unlike in ELA, the largest percentage in below proficient also sits in ninth grade for our math students, which can point to different strategic work in how we support students in that transition from eighth grade to ninth grade. Looking forward to in future years building on this progress looking at this data over time. And with that, I will hand it to Dr. Kimble. Good afternoon, board members. I will be presenting attendance and grades data from our current school year. The district attendance rate through last week is comparable to attendance rates we saw at this time last year, and in both elementary and high school, we're seeing we've seen growth relative to attendance in the most recent years. As we dig into the data, we can see areas of celebration and areas that require
235monitoring. Looking at student race and ethnicity, several groups of students are attending at higher rates than prior years, and we need to acknowledge and celebrate that. We are excited to see improvement in attendance in our black students. We also know attendance rates in Latinx students have declined and it and necessitate close monitoring and close monitoring as situations in the city continue to evolve. Looking by priority group, we observe a similar pattern. Attendance is up amongst student low-income students and students with IEPs. We are again continuing to monitor the decline in attendance that we can see amongst our English learners. Chronic absence is slightly higher at this point this year relative to this time last year, but important to also highlight that it is lower than it was in the prior school year. Shifting to quarter
236one grades, students' grades this year are consistent with what we've seen in quarter one in the most recent past years. I'll now turn the mic over to Dr. Hogard. Thank you and good afternoon, board members, board president. I'm uh get to talk about my favorite topic, and that is the number of students that are graduating with advanced certifications and credits and early college um to show for it. So, we're glad to see the percentages of graduates earning this early college and career credential, um affectionately known as ECC, is now over 56%. And we haven't been tracking this uh in this way for very long. I want to call your attention to how much it's increased during these last few years, and really specifically, what does that mean for students? So, last year alone, that means
23713,000 CPS students graduated with this advanced credit or career credential. We've just completed um I didn't move the slides. I'm so sorry. This is the the deck that I'm talking the slide that I was describing when we're talking about this increase over time. And let me say again, you can see we haven't been tracking this very long, and it has been a very significant increase um since 2022. And this aligns to our goals as a district to increase our students who are graduating with this credential, but it also really speaks to how we think about um not just early college or AP or IB or CTE or JROTC. We see them together as opportunities for our students. We recently um completed six visits to highlight this work at our CPS schools. And what you see
238in these percentages by school only tells a piece of the story. So, Westinghouse had 53.9% of AP success. They also have CTE success. They also have early college. They also have an amazing internship program with construction partners on engineering. Back of the Yards, 57.6% IB success. They also have tremendous success on the IB certificate programs. Brooks, 76% dual credit. They have tremendous AP success, and they have students in the Chicago Builds program. Chavez, Chicago School for Agricultural Sciences, 94.7% students earning CTE. Also, extensive AP and early college work. Solario, our second to the last stop, had one of the highest percentages of Seal of Biliteracy, 66.9%. Also, $46 million in scholarships, which is about 153,000 per student. They also told us they anticipate over 30 students graduating with their associate's degree this year. And at
239Von Steuben, our last stop, we got to hear directly from students how their preparation in student student leadership has resulted in their 86.4% college enrollment and a persistence rate that is really blowing everyone in the country out of the water with 92.2%. And what we heard in every single stop from our students directly is that they are picking how these pieces and classes and pathways go can be combined together to meet their post-secondary goals. And what we heard from the principals and teachers and counselors is that they're supporting students to make this possible. Dr. Camona? Yeah, thank you, team. Um I I was very happy and and honored to be able to participate in two of these visits, and let me tell you a little bit of an anecdote that happened in one of them.
240Uh during my visit to Solorio last week, uh I met Irvin, an alum of Solorio High School. Uh Irvin is the perfect sample of why we need to stop viewing our students as non-English speakers and start viewing them as emerging bilingual. When Irvin arrived to CPS, the system might have labeled him by what he lacked, English fluency. But, by graduating with the Seal of Biliteracy, Irvin proved that he didn't just catch up, he leaped ahead. He didn't subtract his home language, Spanish, he added English to his repertoire. He maintained both to become a highly competitive asset in a global marketplace. This changes the trajectory for our students completely, and I cannot thank enough our team and academic departments that are pushing for this to be a reality for every single student in our city. And
241with this, I open the floor for the board for any questions or comments about this presentation. Thank you. Member Torres Chico. Thank you. I want to thank you all for the presentation, um and it's great to see so many bright spots and improvements in the work um in our students' progress. Something that stands out to me um that also stood out, I think, to multiple board members during the last progress monitoring report, was um that we're presented with a lot of great information. It would be great to know exactly how these metrics align with the goals and the metrics stated in our five-year plan. Um I think that just having a cross-check and go back and forth with the the plan and where we are in the plan and where we are, I think it's
242helpful for board members to know so that we know where we are on track, where there needs to be more support, and also for the public to know where we are on track and where there needs to be support. So, based on the five-year plan, it seems that we are on track K through second grade in math. Um maybe need more support needed in reading. Um and I I think a huge success is that for third through eighth grade, the goal in our plan was for a 20% increase, not a 20 percentage point increase, but 20%, and that seems to have been met or nearly met for both ELA and math. So, that's huge success, and we've we're actually far surpassing our goals in those areas. But, the reason I I keep bringing it back
243to the plan is there was so much thought, intention, work um in crafting every single word of that document, and the third through eighth grade goal, for example, has a second part that says, you know, we'll increase by 20% the number of third through eighth graders who meet or exceed proficiency levels on IAR. And it specifically says, "This will be achieved by accelerating growth for students who are black, Latinx, English learners, students with disabilities, and students in temporary living situations." So, it is fantastic to know that on the surface level the goal has been met. I think the data showing how we accelerated the growth of those students in particular that we aim to accelerate would also be helpful. Um so, I would just request a follow-up that for the information presented, we have a
244comparison to the five-year plan. Uh thank you for raising that comment and that concern, and that will be coming in a February board presentation. And this is the reason why, as you know, I took the position what, a month and a half ago? Who's counting? Uh and one piece that I noticed right away is the fact what you just described, this idea that the we are achieving a lot, and the team has pushed us to say we need to actually revisit most of our goals and start looking at what pieces we already achieved, even though we say a five-year plan, and which one we actually have struggles with, whether because of transitions, whether because of budget cuts. So, we may have to realign some of those um aspects as well. So, right now, we're scheduled
245to have a uh a retreat uh with the whole team on January the 20th, and we will going to create that that piece in the alignment. As well as one piece that I asked already our IT teams, and is that at the end of the day, not only in board meetings, we need to create a website in which we are tracking the progress, and every single time that we actually hit milestones, uh those updates are done in in that website. That doesn't exist right now. Uh you'll see a um a a new report that aligns not only to uh the strategic plan, but some of the pieces of CIDT as well and some of the metrics that we have uh developed and have been out there already, uh but also creating a website that in
246which actually you can anyone in the audience and anyone that participated, all of the stakeholders that did so much work and the input in creating the strategic plan can track the progress of CPS toward meeting all of the goals included in the Together We Rise. Member Smith. Yes, uh thank you, Chief uh Hogard and Dr. Milberg for such a thorough uh report and update. Uh we know that test scores are down nationally, and you know, although we're seeing proficiencies here in math and reading raise, uh I was on a recent 5 by 5 where we also saw that it's not uh translating into SAT scores. So, what do you all believe is the disconnection between the raising of math scores or or or or or reading proficiencies and then it not being translatable when we
247uh test uh for the SATs? Well, I I can start, and I'm not not over the um ACT, which we just switched back to. Um but, we do still see continued growth in AP and IB and early college, which is uh also a significant national measure. So, I think we we need to we need to look at all of those pieces together. It's a a really valid question around the ACT, and compared to other districts, our advanced course scores, which we have for all students, are continuing to grow. So, I'll turn over the ACT portion. You want to talk some more? Sorry. We're having a little A lot of information. >> Just just see it see in the right order. Um I think one thing I would note is, all right, we just looked at
248the first year of pre-ACT data and ACT data from this most recent year's administration. And for both IAR and pre-ACT, the state just reset their performance levels. You will see a lot of continuity in each subject area when you look at that, right? As we were growing in in ELA, and then as we look at high school, we were at 49% in ninth grade at the start for ELA in high school. For the math trend, I think the trend you will see is, right, out-pacing the nation and other states in the earlier years, and then as we look at the middle grades and up into high school, some of those scores a little bit lower, right? Math really shifts when you're talking about moving from K-5 to 6-12 as you start to get, right, more
249technical and more complex, and math is a subject area that really builds on each other. So, I think there's some there's obviously uh Chief Milberg can speak to all of the work with high-quality curriculum and expanding uh access to algebra. All that work in deepening that work is going to be critical, especially for that math growth in the upper in the upper grades. I'll just I mean, I I think that starts to address it, and I don't think we have a perfect answer to your question at all. Um it will be helpful to start to see trend data now that we've switched over to the ACT. Also extremely helpful that ISBE has changed all of their performance indicators, because what you're identifying was true at the state level. There was a disconnect in the way
250that we measured in elementary school versus high school, so it was really hard to track that. But, I can't think regardless of how we start to cut it and think about it, there is a huge need for us to invest in core academics, particularly literacy and math in our 9th and 10th grades, and making sure those foundations are really strong. And that speaks to all all of the work Dr. Hogarth spoke about. Our students can't access this career-connected and accelerated learning to be prepared for college if they don't have really strong foundations in 9th and 10th grade that will allow them to do that. So, I think that is going to be a priority as a district moving forward is thinking about those 9th and 10th grade experiences for our students. And lastly, you you
251were talking about all of the progress you were able to make using ESSER funds. Okay, no more ESSER funds. So, how are we going how are we thinking about continuing to make prog that type of progress? Right. Well, I I called that out as a call out of the importance and what happens when we invest in our students and in their learning. As we all know, those ESSER funds aren't here, and so as an office, as a district, we are making really strategic decisions, prioritizing what we know was successful from those investments. So, we invested in lead coaches and interventionists. That is something that we've continued to prioritize through other cuts that we've had to make now that we don't have ESSER funds. So, trying to really zero in on how we use those funds
252and what was most impactful, particularly in literacy where we saw a lot of gains during those times, and studying that and making sure we continue to invest and prioritize those. Thank you. Member Roosevelt. My microphone's on, but I guess you can't hear me. Is that better? Uh the Thank you. And I think the biggest problem in Chicago public schools is and I I guess according to data is absenteeism statewide as well as Chicago well long before ice, you know, we're having trouble getting kids to school. I'm curious if as a district we have a strategic plan. I don't know, maybe it doesn't even fall under any of you. I'm not sure. As a district, you know, where are we going on that? Do we have a plan? Do we need a committee to to get
253that? But, I think if we don't address this, none of that you can't exceed on the ACT if you weren't in school. You can't do anything. And I remember a time in the district when we would literally go to the homes. You know, even my I have a daughter that is a senior at Whitney, and there's no consequences for truancy or absenteeism really amongst her people. So, I'm just curious as a district where we're at with that and what we're going to do to talk about that and start really thinking about it. I can Do you mind if I I So, we as a district, we currently do not have a district-wide attendance plan. It is something that we are in conversation with. We just met with the Crown Foundation to kind of launch what
254would that look like. Individual schools have attendance plans, and we've kind of been autonomous in in dealing with it, but we do we do see the need that it we need to have a district-wide plan. There was a there was some research done out of the University of Chicago Crime Lab when there was the evaluation of the Back to Our Futures program. And some of their findings was it wasn't that kids just did not want to come to school. That was not their number one cause. It was, surprise surprise, feeling safe and transportation. So, we are taking that research. We'll conduct additional research. We'll definitely continue to work with individual schools, and we'll work with philanthropy so that we can fund and support a district-wide attendance plan. Member Zackor. Oh, thank you. Thanks so much
255for the presentation. It's great to hear all these wonderful statistics. Um I'm wondering if we can get more drilled-down information like maybe information at the school level of of some of these things like we're seeing on this list of, you know, percent AP, IB, and all that. Um and then also just more specific information on the groups that we're most concerned about like students with IEPs or English language learners, black students, low-income students. And then like what is the Is there like an analysis? I'm sure you guys are doing an analysis of Are there certain resources that we notice that schools that are tending to have more success have more access to than other schools? And and if so, what what we might do about that? Let me answer the first part of the question
256in terms of the sub groups. And you know, we were told that the presentation was only 20 minutes. So, that's that's why you don't see more slides, but the actual presentation has tons of slides in the appendix, so we'll make sure that you get all of that information cuz we the this team love to drill down into the specific sub groups and understanding patterns and and and why some specific sub groups like you saw when it came to attendance this year, especially for our black students, we're extremely happy to see that increase in attendance numbers. And we're curious also, of course, to start looking at how these numbers increase. So, that's number one. Number two, you mentioned something about by school. We'll we'll check that. That that shouldn't be that much of a of a
257big issue for us to produce. In terms of resources, I'm not sure if anyone wants to talk about what what resources we have seen that have the most impactful so far when it comes to student performance. I mean, I I do want to thank you all and and Dr. King for protecting the out-of-school time funding and sustainable community school What we've seen in our practice that the work around connectedness and well-being is it is yes, there's some of the carrot of you know, we need you to come to school, and there's less of the of the stick because these are students, and this is a developmental approach, but the research that Dr. King is mentioning really is around belonging and connectedness, and what we've seen with our direct school supports is that the funds are
258used directly for after-school programming, for student support, and protecting that the resources that go directly to the school level is is really important as we talk about that resourcing. I I want to add one more piece to that cuz I think we we cannot ignore this piece and is the fact that, you know, we protected a school funding. That that's great, but we also have to keep in mind that cuts to central office a lot of the time impact schools as well. So, I I I thank the team for how we strategically we actually went about cutting the $50 million that we needed to cut because we tried to minimize any impacts to our schools as we know what are the things that are working and what are the things that actually will have the
259biggest impact on our student success. So, again, let's let's make sure we don't decouple the two of them because the the funding that comes to our central office also impact schools. Member Biggs. Yes, I just wanted to understand a little bit about more about the PACT proficiencies that we saw. Are those Are those proficiency scores set by grade level, or is it a common score across all grade levels? Uh they are set by grade level. So, ISBE just redid their standard setting, so what defines proficiency in three grades 3 through 8 as well as in pre-ACT and ACT. So, there's a a separate threshold set for each of those four levels for all three tests that are used in high school, so the pre-ACT 9, ACT 10, and then the ACT that our 11th graders
260take. >> Got it. That makes a little more sense. Thanks. Member Lopez. Thank you. Um some of the questions I had already have been answered, including what are we considering to address the issue especially of attendance given that we have one of the highest or lowest number of attendance across the board and seen a higher impact in particular with our immigrant communities. Uh the first question is what are some of the short-term solutions that we're looking at right now? And it's important to look at the root cause in the long term, but right now, is there anything that we can start already implementing this school year to address some of those um issues with attendance? And this is, of course, connected also with given the immigrant population being impacted, but also we know other populations
261for over years been impacted. We could follow up with you. I know there's different when we think about attendance, we have to think about the early childhood. Those are parents bringing children to school, so that would be a different root cause than intermediate middle school and high school. Those students often bring themselves to school. So, we have to unpack what those issues are for each of those different groups, and then we need to think about individual communities around the city because what we found when visiting some of the schools after, you know, the what's his name? Bomb Bomb V left. And what we found Yeah, what we found is that some schools wanted they were vigorously fighting to make sure they had systems in place to bring students to school. They just still had asks
262of us, and then there were others that leaned in the other direction. So, I think as we continue to work towards the CIDT, I think it's going to be really important to us as a district and then you as board members, when we talk about the resources that we provide that impact the outcomes of these different metrics, we need to make sure that we're tailoring the resources to the needs of not just the community but the individual schools. That's going to be a massive undertaking, but I think if we want to see the needle moved um substantially, we're going to have to find out how do we tailor to the greatest extent possible the limited resources that we have at in Chicago Public Schools. But I can follow up. I know early childhood, Leslie McKinley
263was here. She's going to share some work that they're seeing with their youngest worker youngest students um with improving attendance, and we know that is not the students. Those are the parents that bring them to schools, but she's seen some movement there. So I can make sure that we update you all on what's currently working, and then I can give you more details around our district-wide attendance strategy that we're planning and mapping out. And I'll keep you updated as it it unfolds. Thank you. And as you had mentioned before, if you know, we're looking at transportation, sometimes working hours, um the others even housing, and often times in many of the communities that we represent. Uh going back to the attendance, I think it's also important that when looking at the approach, that we keep
264in mind how are they going to be culturally responsive and trauma-informed as we, you know, depending on which community we're working with. Um I'd love to see the the data regarding the ECCC uh some of the schools in particular, Solorio in my district. I've had the opportunity to visit the school several times. Uh shout out to Ms. Rosa Jimenez, the principal there, and the high school counselors, and the post-secondary. Um they have an amazing team there. Are there anything that you've noticed, not just with Solorio, with the other schools that we can replicate across other schools? And also, how do we compare with the rest of the state? Let me start with the the state question. So nationally, we are actually one of the highest college enrollment college persistence rate, and our ECCC rate is
265measured differently, kind of state by city by city, state by state. So that is something in terms of within the state of Illinois I'd need to get get back to on that. Um Solorio is a great example because they do have multiple pathways, um and they have a very strong counseling team. They utilize alumni support. I also want to thank Dr. Smith for speaking at the counselor event today. Um They have a dedicated alumni support. We support college coaching there. Um we support an early college STEM specialist who works with the early college students. When we were in the library, they were preparing for their um dual enrollment exam at Daley College that day. And their teachers have great buy-in and support and understand how the pathways work across the courses. Um I think what
266we're seeing at all of the schools is that that understanding of de-siloing the the work based on what students are interested in. So what is working is maintaining our counselor ratio. What having dedicated post-secondary support and specific support for pathways, um and allowing young people to really drive the interest within the schools. Um so that they can they can really identify, here's how I see these courses working together. They also, as Chief Milberg was saying, the 9th and 10th grade curriculum and instruction is really important because they won't have access to all of these pathways if they're not prepared and accelerated in in 9th and 10th grade. Um Solorio also talked about um they have a great student voice program, and they really support student voice across their entire school. And I think you might
267have seen an article around um their uh student group that's organizing fun funds to support each other right now. So I think that disposition of young people as leaders um is a really important aspect of that. Now, I and and I agree, especially with Solorio, they do have um a shout out also to teachers there supporting in particular those students that might be coming from mixed-status families. Um I know that for us, we don't track in particular, right, the status of of the student, but can you talk a little bit about the support system for those students that are is difficult for them to get a scholarship, or, you know, they got to sometimes pay full tuition for college. Uh fortunately that here in Illinois, legislation was passed to help undocumented students, but what support
268systems do we have for them? So we um our FAFSA rate right now is significantly higher than the national average, and um when we were there at Solorio Solorio, we also saw it was a collective impact visit with our college and career team. They um essentially respond to a school request and flood the school and do one-on-one support with students. Um Undocumented students are not excluded from all scholarships or all aid, just federal. And I think the state of Illinois has done a great job in how um where students are able to submit an alternative uh financial aid form, and then we have a specific team that supports students in very individualized, very um supportive conversations. Thank you. And that's more of, you know, as we continue with the conversations, I would love to hear
269any policy recommendations or resources that Jason has been working make to help um you know, advance this work. Thank you. Member Brown. Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you all for your presentation and for sharing some good news. Um Two things. One, I wanted to know if you could just articulate for me what college persistence means. I got an assumption, but I don't want to assume. Yes, college persistence is returning to college after the first year. Um so as a sophomore. Okay. Okay. Which is a good indicator of like freshman on track is a good indicator that a child will graduate. Okay. So here's my um when we talk about uh the absenteeism. Um So I come from a a lot of my mentors or people that started like the African Senate Independent Schools that
270popped up around the country in the 1960s, 1970s. Um and one of the things that we learned is that every human being needs to have a sense of identity, purpose, and direction. And if your identity is if your identity is misguided, then so is your purpose. So and in my and in my lived experience, and I think the evidence supports that that's actually true, right? Um what was the program in Tucson, the Mexican-American Studies program, which was a highly successful program in Tucson that was shut down by a racist school board despite the fact that they show it showed improved attendance, it showed improved academics. Um there's a school here in Chicago, Freedom Home Academy, that's been run by a brother named Marcus Kline for 20 years. He used to run a newspaper called the
271um minimum wage moment. Uh Frontline. But this school is it produces scholars, right? Um and they focus on things like the young people learn Kiswahili, they learn their history, they play chess, they have a rigorous curriculum. In Chicago, Voices of Youth in Chicago Education produced this cadre of highly motivated and activated young people as a in Kelly and Dyett and Kenwood and Cal used to be Calumet High School. So I mean, I I think there's evidence that when people are engaged in shaping what their education looks like, they own it. There's a sense of ownership. And I'm just wondering if that's in our thinking in regards to how to address the absenteeism. That, to be honest with you, that that was my attraction when I became to the community school model was somebody was actually
272asking us what should happen instead of telling you, this is what needs to happen. And it was a it was a it was a shift. And when I was a community school coordinator at South Shore, uh the first thing that happened is young people that normally didn't come to school started coming to school, right? Because we had programs that they had actually informed. And I'm so I'm just wondering if that's a part of our thinking in addressing the absenteeism piece. And that was it. It it definitely is a part of our thinking, and uh Chief Milberg and I have been working very closely with um the overlap with student voice and sustainable community schools and our connectedness and well-being. And um I think it's a this is a both-and answer that we can um dig
273into more. There's there is you need the sense of agency, you need the choice, you need the supports, um and the sense of belonging, and there's students who need technical, physical resource support. Um, so I think this is a a both and response and I really appreciate that elevation when I was a teacher at South Shore, um, having an after school um, photography and yearbook club uh, got a lot of my students to school because we hadn't had that before and um, and I needed the funds, uh, to do that and I actually got extra checks from a community organization um, for supporting supporting that work. So, I think this is a both and and it's a a CPS and the larger city community question. I would I would just humbly recommend and I'm I
274mean it humbly cuz you all are experts and I know you know what you're doing. It's just some folks that I've engaged with. I was in the black student success meeting about a year and a half ago. And Sophia Maubidy was there. I came out of BD's wife and and the person who developed the Institute of Positive Education. And I'm starstruck. You know, I'm I'm looking at her cuz I know before they became a CPS school what a pillar they were in the neighborhood. And I think that people like this should be like consulted, right? Marcus Klein should be consulted like how do we make how do we we we uh, replicate that type of environment where young people where young people walk with a high sense of who they are. Not who society tells
275them they are. Because when you're a teacher in the classroom as great as you may do once they pick this up they're politicized to a whole different reality that says something different. So, the question becomes how do we not just make it something that is abstract but how do we create a climate where everywhere they turn that it's being reinforced? And so, I'll just you know I'm going to stop with that. Member Pope. Yes, I'm very happy to hear some of the great news here. I share some of the concerns about uh, attendance related issues about the myriad of factors that I think Dr. King referred to that make attendance something that is very varied from family to family, school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood and at different grade levels obviously. Some of it is
276very parent driven and some of it is much more student driven certainly in my experience as a high school teacher. Uh, I particularly wanted to commemorate uh, the seal of biliteracy offered by Solario and other schools. Uh, I was very fortunate to have my children at Inter-American Magnet when Adela Coronado Greely pressed the state of Illinois to develop the whole concept of a seal of biliteracy. I think it's a tremendous asset as Dr. Comeon appointed out in a particular case but in general too the development of self-confidence and the development of students who are fluently biliterate and able to communicate really well in both languages. I would like more information on how many schools have students who are participating in the seal of biliteracy program, what kinds of numbers we have of students who have
277done this and I'd also be interested in whether we are approaching the seal of biliteracy in a variety of languages that are spoken by our CPS families. Thank you. I I was going to just mention that yes, we had those statistics and we have several languages. Uh, we actually introduced a few languages this past year. Uh, so we'll we'll be able to report those numbers to you by tomorrow. >> Thanks much. Thank you very much for your presentation. We're not going to open the floor up for comments on the public agenda item. Uh, just want to remind the board that we still have a very dense agenda ahead of us. So, if we could keep our comments succinct, it'll be much appreciated. Um, resolution to authorize the appointment of members to local school councils to
278fill vacancies. There'll be a separate vote taken after RS5 so you can provide your questions and comments for that item before we proceed with the separate vote. Are there any comments or questions related to public agenda item or there reports that you wish to be removed from the consent agenda as a separate vote? Um, I was going to ask for us to have that discussion on RS two. Um, so one of the things that we have is we we have a democratic process by which we ask community members, teachers to run for office and or a role within the local school council. And yet we're not very clear in the rules of engagement in terms of what are the qualifications, what are the things that I need to have to submit um, after I'm pulled
279uh, in an election. Case in point, I have a a constituent at one of our schools on in my district who was duly elected by his peers in a high uh, turnout and when his information was sent down here, he was not sit. And part of it was that they said that he uh, had some disciplinary action. Well, again, when we're talking about clear procedures and protocols. And and and and and this morning um, Superintendent King, you you talked about local school councils and one of the things that I would ask and hopefully is that we have the right information that we're providing to teachers to community in terms of what are the things that will disqualify you. Sorry, I'm I'm sorry, member Gutierrez, we want you to have the comment once the it's up
280for vote then that'd be the appropriate time to have that. I know you're excited about it. We're going to get there. We're not We'll now proceed with the vote on public agenda item. Board Secretary, please proceed. Thank you, President Harden. I'll proceed with the items on the public agenda, read the board report numbers and brief titles. I believe Vice President Bautista has motion MO2 regarding the record of proceedings. Yes, I move that the record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of October 8th, 2025 board meeting of October 23rd, 2025 and special board meeting of October 30th, November 4th 2025 and November 10th, 2025 be prepared by the board secretary to be approved and that such records of proceedings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with section 2.06B of
281the Open Meetings Act. >> a second? I so second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Velez. I. Member Bowe. Yes. Member Wallace. I. Member Custer. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Brown. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. I. Member Bix. Yes. Member Thodukora. Yes. Member Blaze. I. Member Zeigler. Yes. Member I. 20 eyes zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with items that do require a vote. RS1, resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation alternate bonds of the Board of Education in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed 1 billion 800 million pursuant to the school code and the local government debt reforming reform act
282and authorizing certain other matters. PO1, authorize the public comment period for the automatic external defibrillators policy. PO2 authorize the public comment period for the drug and alcohol free workplace policy. PO3 authorize the public comment period for the debarment policy. PO4, authorize the public comment period for the indebtedness policy. PO5, authorize the public comment period for the information security policy. EX1 transfer of funds for October 2025. EX2, transfer of funds for November 2025. EX3, approve entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the City Colleges of Chicago. EX4, approve entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the Department of Family and Support Services. OP1, disposition of bids received for the sale of property located at 1241 West 58th Street. President Harden, OP1 was draft on agenda. The final report will be included in the agenda of action. I'll continue
283with OP2 disposition of offers received for the sale of property located at 1326 South South Avers Avenue. OP3 disposition of bids received for the sale of property located at 200 East 99th Street. PR1 authorize a new agreement with various vendors for early childhood block grant services. PR2 authorize the first and second final renewal of various vendors for the purchase of maintenance, repair, and operations supplies, and personal protective equipment. PR3 authorize the pre-qualification status of a new agreement with various vendors to provide construction material testing and inspection services. PR4 report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the capital improvement program. PR5 authorize a new agreement with BIF 3 US aggregator. PR6 authorize the first and second final renewal agreement with Cannon Cochran Management Services Inc. PR7 authorize the first, second,
284and third final renewal agreement with Health Care Service Corporation, and authorize funding of health savings accounts and agreement with Webster Bank N.A. President Harden, these items do require a vote. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rio Sierra? I. Member Bannon? I. Member Vice President Bautista? >> Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thodukure? Yes. Member Blaze? >> I. Member Zackour? >> Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 20 eyes, zero nays, matters are adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a
285vote. PR8, chief procurement officer delegation of authority report for September 2025, and chief financial officer report for September 2025. EX5, report on principal contracts new. EX6, report on principal contracts renewals. AR1, report on board report rescissions. President Harden, these items just need to be accepted by the board. Please mark received and file. President Harden, I'll continue with items from the acting general counsel that do require a vote. AR2, ratify and appoint assistant general counsel Evan Dyck Stedder. AR3, transfer and appoint senior assistant general counsel Colleen Kelly. AR4, appoint assistant general counsel Karina Salazar McGuffey. AR5, amend continued retention of various outside counsel law firms. President Harden, this amendment is necessary to increase spending authority for two outside counsel law firms, and adds one outside counsel law firm to attachment A for new spending authority. And
286for the record, I would like to note an an abstention for board member Gutierrez for the following law firms on AR5: Burke, Warren, MacKay and Sartell PC, Mayer Brown LLP, and Greenberg Traurig LLP. I'll continue with AR6, workers compensation payment for lump sum settlement for Harriet Joiner. AR7, workers compensation payment for lump sum settlement for Bertha Sanchez. President Harden, these items do require a vote. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? I second the motion. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rio Sierra? I. Member Bannon? I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez, with the noted abstention on the
287law firms from AR5? I. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thodukure? Yes. Member Blaze? I. Member Zackour? Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 20 eyes, zero nays, um and the abstention on the law firms from AR5, these matters are adopted by the board. Board Secretary, before we proceed, uh member Brown has requested that RS3 be removed from the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Sorry, I'm trying to get caught up. So, the motion is to move RS3, which is resolution um regarding the dismissal of Abdeb CEA tenure teacher assigned to Ronald Brown Elementary Community Academy. Moving that um as a separate vote vote motion from member Brown, seconded by member Zackour. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? Uh to clarify, this is for RS3? Yes. No. So, the vote's to remove it? To
288move it as a separate >> agenda. Oh, okay. Yes. Oh, from the agenda. Okay, yes. Remove it from consent agenda and vote as a separate vote. Is that what you're asking, member Brown? Yes. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? I. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? No. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rio Sierra? I. Member Bannon? I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thodukure? Yes. Member Blaze? I. Member Zackour? Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 18 eyes, two nays, this motion is adopted by the board. Board member Smith, can you um state your vote again for the motion? Yes. 19 eyes, one nay, this motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with an item from the interim superintendent chief executive
289officer that does require a vote. EX7, warning resolution Anna Howell, tenure teacher from Madero Middle School. President Harden, this item does require a vote. >> Is there a motion? So moved. >> Is there a second? Second the motion. I'll I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? I'm sorry, I don't know where we're at right now. Which motion are we talking about? You're taking um you're doing the motion uh for EX7. It's the warning resolution for Anna Howell, tenure teacher at Madero Middle School. EX7. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? I. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rio Sierra? I. Member Bannon? I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thodukure? Yes.
290Member Blaze? I. Member Zackour? Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 20 eyes, zero nays, this matter is adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with items from the board that do require a vote. RS4, resolution approving interim superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational support personnel. RS5, resolution approving interim superintendent chief executive officers recommendation to dis- to dismiss probationary appointed teachers. President Harding, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? I second. Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Villegas. I. Member Boyle. I. Member Wallace. I. Member Caster. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Brown. Yes. Member Rios Sierra. I. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. I. Member
291Biggs. >> Yes. Member Fotouhi. Yes. Member Blaise. I. Member Zackary. >> Yes. Member DeBerry. I. 20 eyes, zero nays. These matters are are adopted by the board. President Harding will now proceed with the separate votes as noted earlier with a separate vote on RS2 resolution authorize appointment of members to local school councils to fill vacancies. This item does require a vote. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? I second. We'll now open this matter up for discussion. So I asked for this uh particular motion to come up board because uh as I've been going and attending many um local school councils, there seems to be a uh not enough process in place. Um especially when it comes to um asking teachers, students to be part of the the electoral process and put
292themselves out to vote and get elected by their constituents, right? So they're teachers, their neighbors. Um And in particular case, um an individual won. And as his application came downtown, um it he never got seated, right? Because there was some uh disciplinary action. And I think that one of the things that when we are trying to be as transparent as we can, right? One of the things that we teach our uh our students in history class and in civics, right? We want to be very transparent in what we do in a democracy. And part of it is making sure that we have rules by which everyone knows how we're going to engage in the process, right? So if I'm a teacher, you want me to run, these are the things These are the qualifications that
293you need, and these are the disqualifiers. So um so I'm hoping um as I heard you speak earlier today, uh Superintendent King, that those specifics are out there because I think we will end up in a situation like today. Um and I don't believe that this is this is also probably not an isolated incident. I think that it happens more time. And And so literally my my request for this particular thing, as I was working with board staff looking for information and reviewing policy, there's really it's really gray, right? There's no real um uh policy and or procedures attached that say, "Hey, this is what happens, right?" It kind of comes down here, committee makes the determination, and then you get a report, and And we approve them, right? Um and so I guess what
294I'm asking for as a board, as we are trying to govern, um that we become a little bit more transparent than we are able to see what policies and procedures look like. Um and my request would be if we if we could um table this until next board meeting so that we can access information that we need as it relates to what is the process by which we as a teacher, as a student, um can be a part of the board and stuff. Can Can there be a discussion before? Um out of respect to you, remember Gutierrez, and your constituent who had this um concern, would you be willing to amend your motion to just table the schools that are impacted by the the concern that was brought up so that the other school communities
295don't have a disturbance? I So I I would not. I I think I would like for us to really look at the policies and procedures by which we're doing this. Cuz like I said, I don't believe that the issue in my district is isolated. I think that it happens in other places except no one's ever reached out to a board member and asked them to bring it. I totally understand that. I also feel like fixing all the policy If we wanted to fix all the policies that we could possibly improve with like LSCs before we approve LSC members, there that would be a very long road for us. So I um I support what you were trying to do. I would love to be involved in that as well, but um I would again ask
296you to consider just limiting the the impact so that school communities can continue to do the important business of LSCs with the additional member a member that we may be ap- appointed. >> to do that. Thank you. President. Thank you. Also, I believe I'm very somewhat familiar with the same issue that member Gutierrez has brought up because I also had community members asking me in regards um the question actually I received was, "Why is the board blocking this individual that won their election from being sworn in into that role?" And and I think it was a lot of My understanding was there was not clear information given to the community why it was taking so long and what not. Um that being said, I serving on LSC, it's it it's similar to us right now
297here. It's they don't get paid for those roles. It's community leaders stepping up, uh whether it be teachers, uh parents, you know, individuals that live in the area. So what else can we do to help support them in those roles? Um and I've had the opportunity to work directly with LSCs before in my time in particular in the Marshall Square area in Little Village. So always my my support to them. Uh my question is more I'm not sure if the acting general counsel can answer this on on public record. Um and it was brought up, right? What are potentially some of the negative consequences if we are if we table this? I just want to make sure that we're not putting any of our schools in a situation they shouldn't be in, um but also
298being mindful that there's perhaps policies that we need to revisit and maybe uh just straighten in some of those areas. Hello. Can you Liz is going to answer it? Well, um the general counsel, if there's anything on record that you can if we were to table this, whether it be the entire item or just a particular school, any negative consequences that we need to be mindful of. I did provide um a privileged communication to all board members um just shortly that should be in your email. Um and I would prefer that the um communication remain privileged. Um so if you could review your email communication, I did provide my recommendation um and described the potential impact of moving to table uh this decision today. Member Rosenfeld. No, I didn't. I think it's Debbie. Member Pope.
299Yes. Uh I'm very familiar with the situation uh in uh member Gutierrez's district. This is a person that I've worked with for many years when I was teaching at Gage Park High School and is someone who has been very civically involved and very active in promoting the good in his community. And I'm concerned that some We're not talking major discipline or anything like that. That a minor disciplinary issue might preclude someone from serving on the LSC, and then that could lead to questions about if principals have a particular person they want on the LSC or a particular person they don't want on the LSC, could that encourage them to use discipline as a factor in uh things like this? And I happen to know that the results of the election were very strongly in this
300person's favor. And I would like us to really examine these issues before we proceed further on this question. So I very much support the idea of pulling the two cases out from Owens and from uh Hancock and uh having those be held until we've had an opportunity to discuss the broader issue. Dr. King. We receive your concerns uh board member Gutierrez, and I'm hoping that um Chief uh Alvarez can provide some clarity. It will not be 100%, but she can provide some clarity, and maybe that will help. Board members, so as Dr. King mentioned, I'll provide some clarity in terms of the process, right? So, first I want to reiterate that there is the LSC elections, and that is something separate from the appointments, right? So, the elections, that is connected to, for example, the
301the announcement that Dr. King made earlier today, right? That's going to be on March 18th. Um and that is where candidates run for their positions. Now, what happens in between elect- elections, right? Elections happen every 2 years, is that sometimes there's a vacancy, right? And vacancies need to be uh filled. So, what happens at the school level is that there's a staff poll that happens. It's not an election, right? Um it's a staff poll. Now, it's a non-binding staff poll, which means that um even if somebody receives the largest numbers of votes, they may or may not proceed because there's a committee that um is internal, and so uh there are, you know, I I believe board member Gutierrez wants a little bit more clarity about who's part of the committee, so we can get
302you that information. Now, that committee um does live um in law. I I did provide um that information in the email communication earlier today. Yep. >> Um so that that that that uh composition really is made up of the folks that you're going to uh read about, right? That committee is separate from the office of the local school council relations team, right? So, uh Kishasha Williams-Ford, Myra Whiting, any of the LSC specialists, they're not part of that committee. So, that's separate. Now, the committee has criteria. I'm not going to go over that, right? Um I'm sure you received that information via Liz. Um but I wanted to clarify that this is not an election. This is a staff poll that then the the candidate that has the the largest amount of of um of polling
303then goes before the committee. Um and then that is what is presented to you. Now, I do want to clarify that I believe it's a total of 29 schools that have different uh vacancies presented to you today. Um so, I wanted you to know the number, um and we know that some of them are not meeting um quorum. So, I'll leave that at that. Chief Alvarez, can you just say for the record your connection to the LSC? Oh, yes. Thank you. So, my name is Fanny Diego Alvarez. I am the chief of FACE, and the Office of Local School Council Relations is part of FACE. The director for the Office of Local School Council Relations is Kishasha Williams-Ford, who is not here. Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions on this matter? So,
304the motion on the floor right now is to table for clarification, board member Gutierrez. Are you tabling the whole resolution, or are you tabling to pull out um the schools? Yeah, I'd like to amend that uh in or I I'd like to table the two decisions uh from Hancock and Owens. So, as to not impact all the other schools. I'll proceed with a roll call on that um on that motion. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? I. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? >> Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rios Sierra? I. Member Bannon? >> I. Vice President Bautista? >> Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? >> Yes. Member Thoda-Cordova? Yes. Member Blaze? Member Zackor? >> Yes. Member DeBerry? I.
30519 eyes, zero nays. The motion to table the item for Hancock and Owens from resolution RS2 has been adopted. Uh we will go back to voting on RS2 with those two schools removed. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rios Sierra? Member Bannon? I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? >> Yes. Member Thoda-Cordova? Yes. Member Zackor? >> Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 19 eyes, zero nays. The resolution to um for LSC to fill vacancies with the two schools removed has been adopted. We'll move to the separate vote for RS3, which is the resolution by the Board of Education of the City of Chicago regarding the dismissal
306of Adeb- Adebisi Ege, tenured teacher assigned to Ronald Brown Elementary Community Academy. President Harden, for the record, this resolution accepts the hearing officer's recommendation for dismissal. Adebisi Ege is hereby dismissed um We'll proceed with the roll call vote for this item. Point of order, uh President Harden. I was hoping it I wanted this separate so that there could be some discussion on it. Now, I know it's a personnel issue, so I don't know if we have to do that, and I can accept some guidance on that, but Could I make a friendly amendment to table it so that we could have discussion and then vote on in the January meeting? To table the vote. I I accept that amendment. So, the motion on the floor is to table the item, which is deferring it to
307the January board meeting. Second. Board Board Secretary, okay. Who seconded? I'm sorry, who seconded the motion? Thank you. Uh we're uh voting on the motion to table the item until January. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? No. Member Wallace? Abstain. Member Custer? No. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? No. Member Rivas? No. Member Brown? Of course, yes. Member Rios Sierra? I. Member Bannon? I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? No. Member Thoda-Cordova? Yes. Member Blaze? Yes. This is just a table, right? I just I had to step out. Okay. >> It's Yes, a table the item to um move it to next month. Thank you. Member Zackor? Yes. Member DeBerry? I. 14 eyes, five nays, one abstention. This motion is adopted by the board. President
308Harden, I believe board member Velez has motion MO3. I move that the board adopt the minutes of the closed session meetings of October 8th, 2025, October 30th, 2025, November 4th, 2025, and November 10, 2025, pursuant to section 2.06 of of the Open Meetings Act. Bo- Board members reviewed these minutes and determined that the need for confidentiality exist. Therefore, the minutes of the closed session meetings held October 8th, 2025, October 30th, 2025, November 4th, 2025, and November 10th, 2025, shall be maintained as confidential and not available for public inspection. I second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? I. Member Lopez? I. Member Velez? I. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? I. Member Custer? I. Member Pope? Yes. Member Rosenfeld? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown? Yes. Member Rios Sierra? I. Member Bannon?
309I. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? I. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thoda-Cordova? Yes. Member Blaze? I. Member Member Yes. Member DeBerry? Aye. 20 eyes, zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, there are no further items on the public agenda. We'll now move into executive session. Member Smith, do you have motion MO4? Yes, I move uh for the passage of motion number 25-1218-MO4 and the commencement of a closed session to consider matters permitted under section 2C of the Open Meetings Act subsection 1 as specified in the motion. Is there a second? Yes. I second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano? Yes. Member Smith? Aye. Member Lopez? Aye. Member Velas? Aye. Member Boyle? Yes. Member Wallace? Aye. Member Custer? Aye. Member Poe? Yes. Member Rosenfield? Yes. Member Rivas? Yes. Member Brown?
310Yes. Member Real Sierra? Aye. Member Banon? Aye. Vice President Bautista? Yes. Member Gutierrez? Aye. Member Biggs? Yes. Member Thode-Adquar? Yes. Member Blaze? Aye. Member Zackor? Yes. Member DeBerry? Aye. 20 eyes, zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. This meeting will now go into executive session. >> Mhm. >> Hold on. Uh the chair has to reconvene. Oh, gavel us back. Sorry. Just for that, I got to find a friend. Top of page 15. Secretary, please go ahead. President, I'm sorry. Vice President Bautista, I would like to note for the record that there are no items to vote on from executive session. Okay. Um Is there a motion to Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. We're adjourned.