001And President Harden, before you begin today's meeting, I would like to read a few announcements. Good afternoon. Welcome to the April 24th, 2025 board meeting. I would like to note that because our notice and public agenda was posted at 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22nd, our board meeting today is starting at 3:23 p.m. Before we start the meeting, I would like to share a few safety points and next meeting announcements. Please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is the door which you use to enter this afternoon. If you are leaving the room, please use this door. The restrooms are outside the boardrooms to your left. During the meeting, we ask that you keep all aisles and exit exits clear. If you need any assistance during the meeting, please wave the attention
002of one of our security officers. Please mark your calendars for upcoming meetings. The next agenda review committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 29th, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. The ARK meeting and board meeting will be held at 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level Boardroom. For details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings and to learn about the speaker lottery process, please visit the Chicago Board of Education website at cpsb.org. or 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. Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to Chicago Board of Education meeting. Today is
003April 24th, 2025. We're holding today's board meeting in the boardroom at CPS Loop office, 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. I would like to note that board members, honorary student board member and senior leadership are physically present in the boardroom. Register speakers may join us in person or virtually if they've opted to do so. I'm President Shan B. Harden. On behalf of my fellow board members, thank you for joining us today. Regular meeting of Thursday, April 24th, 2025 is hereby called to order. Board secretary, please call the role. Thank you. Member Lozano, present. Member Smith, present. Member Lopez, present. Member Thomas, present. Member Bole, present. Member Wallace, present. Member Kuster, present. Member Pope, present. Member Rosenfeld, present. She is present. I don't I think her mic was present. Thank you. Member Reebas present. Member Rio
004Sierra present. Member Brown present. Member Bannon present. Vice President Bautista present. Member Gutierrez present. Member Biggs present. Member Thorakura present. Member Blae present. Member Zachor present. Member Deberry present. President Harden present. We have 21 members present. We do have a quorum. I'd also like to recognize Pedro Martinez, chief executive officer. Ruchi Verma, general counsel. Bugdana Shukumbaba, chief education officer. Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer. Karolina Kchie, honorary student board member. Thank you. The other meeting will be as follows. Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Uh, President Harden, before you proceed, for the record, pursuant to board bylaws rule 1-75 5G1, note that the following board report is being withdrawn. RS6, resolution resolution addressing various improvements needed to the board's authorization of charter school. Thank you. Thank you. The order of the meeting will be as follows. Honoring
005excellence, CO remarks, committee updates, public participation, recess, reconvene from recess, presentation, including progress monitoring, exceptional diverse talent, targeted priority, discussion of public agenda items, vote on public agenda items, close session, reconvene from close session, and then adjourn. I move that we lay over the charter renewal items and their associate leases pursuant to board bylaws rule 1 through 7.V.G.2. After I call for a second, the board secretary will read the board report numbers and titles associated with this motion and then we will take a vote. Is there a second? I second. I'm sorry. Was that Vice President Bautista? Yes. Thank you. Ex2 authorized renewal of the lane lock charter school agreement with conditions. EX3 authorized renewal of passages charter school agreement with conditions. EX4 authorized renewal of the Aspira charter school agreement with conditions. EX5 authorized
006renewal of the Catalyst Elementary Charter School Circle Rock agreement with conditions. EX6 authorized the renewal of the Catalyst Maria Charter School Agreement with conditions. EX7 authorized renewal of the Epic Academy Charter High School agreement with conditions. EX8 authorized renewal of the Eerie Elementary Charter School Agreement with conditions. EX9 authorized renewal of the Horizon Science Academy Southwest Chicago Charter School Agreement with conditions. Ex10 authorized renewal of the Institute of Health Sciences Career Academy Charter High School w agreement with conditions. EX11 authorized renewal of Moving Everest Charter School Agreement with conditions. EX11 authorized renewal of the North Londale College Preparatory Charter High School agreement with conditions. EX13. I'm sorry. Strike that. Uh, for the record, it is EX12, authorized renewal of the North Lawndale College Preparatory CH College Preparatory Charter High School Agreement with Again. EX13 authorized
007the renewal of the Perspectives Charter School Agreement with conditions. EX14 authorized renewal of the Providence Englewood charter school agreement with conditions. Ex-15 authorized renewal of the Row Elementary Charter School Agreement with conditions. EX16 authorized renewal of Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men High School. Young men High School Bronzeville campus agreement with conditions. EX17 authorized renewal of Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men High School. Anglewood Angelwood campus agreement with conditions. OP1 approved renewal lease agreement with Epic Academy, Inc. for the former South Chicago school building 8255 South Houston Avenue. OP2 approved renewal lease agreement with Northwestern University Settlement Association for the main Lozano School Building 1424 North Cleaver Street. OP3 approved renewal lease agreement with Perspectives Charter School for the former Raymond School Building 3663 South Wash Avenue. OP4 approve renewal lease agreement with
008Providence Englewood School Corporation for the former Bunch School Building 6515 South Ashland Avenue. OP5 ratify renewal lease agreement with Urban Prepmies for the former Dittle West school building 521 East 35th Street. OP6 ratify renewal lease agreement with urban prepmies for the former former Anglewood High School building 6201 South Stewart Avenue. OP7 amends board report 171206 OP4 approve entering into a lease agreement with the North Londale College Preparatory Charter High School for use of space at the George Howland School of the Arts located at 1616 South Spalding Avenue. OP8 amend report 240125 OP7 ratify approve renewal lease agreement with Learn Charter School for a portion of the James Thorp Elementary School building 8914 South Buffalo Avenue. I'll proceed with a roll call vote to table the following items. I'm sorry, to table the following items as
009noted um just now. Member Loausano. Yes. Member Smith. Yes. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. Yes. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster, no. Member Pope, yes. Member Rosenfeld, no. Member Rivas, no. Member Rio Sierra, I. Member Brown, yes. Member Bannon, I. Vice President Bautista, I. Member Gutierrez, no. Member Biggs, no. Member Thodakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry. I. 15 eyes, five nays. This motion is adopted by the board. At last month's board meeting, honorary student board member Carolina Kchie announced the details for the 2020 2025 2026 HSBM application. Carolina, please share the information regarding the application process. I understand there's been a lot of exciting attention. Please proceed. Thank you, President Harden. Good afternoon. My name is Karolina Kchi and I currently serve as the honorary student board member for
010the Chicago Board of Education. The Chicago Board of Education is looking for its next student leader to serve in the honorary student board member role for the 2025 to the 2026 school year. The selected student will represent the interests and perspectives of all Chicago public school students by attending the monthly board meetings. The honorary student board member will also participate in the student voice roundt initiative which provides a platform for CPS students from across the district to engage with CPS leadership and board of members on various topics. This student body representative will receive a $1,000 scholarship to be used to support enrollment in a two or four-year college or university. To be eligible for this opportunity, you must be a rising junior or senior, current 10th and 11th graders, hold a 3.0 GPA or higher,
011and demonstrate proven leadership experience. The application deadline has been extended to Monday, May 12th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Visit cpsb.org to access the application. Thank you to all the students who have already applied. Good luck to you all. Thank you, President Harden. Or I don't think my mic was on. Yeah. Chief to come over, please proceed with honoring excellence. Thank you, President Harden. Today we are thrilled to recognize 36 new national board certified teachers as well as those ADCPS teachers who have renewed their certification this year. This is one of the highest most respected credentials that a teacher can earn. At its core, the MBCT process is an acknowledgment that all educators, even those at the top of their game, are still learners. These teachers welcome the chance to learn from their students, colleagues, and
012the leaders in their field. Embracing the belief that there is always room to grow. Because this is their mindset, our MBCTs cultivate inspiring, challenging, and affirming classroom communities that position them as co-constructors of knowledge for students. They marry their knowledge with the of the content, their students, and effective instructional practices in order to serve as thoughtful facilitators of learning. and they strive every day to learn more about their students identities and their relationships to learning. I want to thank our partners from the Chicago Teachers Union for working with us to support nearly 2,500 CPS teachers through the National Board Certification Process. Their nurturing teacher leadership program has a success rate of more than 90% compared with a national average of only 70%. To talk more about this program today, we have several guests and I
013would like to welcome CTu President City uh Stacy Davis Gates to share a few words about the program. Um, listen, one of the things that the CTU and the Chicago public schools does well, um, is the nationally this program, the NTO program. What this does is that this increases the likelihood that in our school communities, our young people are getting the best type of instruction. So, I do want to say that we codified this and the contract you'll get to vote on um a little later and because of that um I think we that vote should be a little easy for you. But at any rate, I'm very happy to be here. The Chicago Teacher Union applauds our NBCT teachers for their accomplishments, their dedication to their uh students, school communities, and their practice as
014an educator. Um, for new board members who don't know this, our NBCT, they go through a grueling process with a very tough coach. Her name is Lynn Shakowski Davis. And that tough coach helps them to refine their practice, examine and reflect on their pedagogy, and work with their colleagues to achieve this distinction. I applaud not only the NBCTs who will be NBCTS this year, but those who do the renewals because that is also very rigorous work. Um, these people are role models. It's proven that students of NBCTS have higher levels of achievement, higher rates of attendance, better engagement in their work, and stronger relationships in their school communities. In fact, these metrics um are related to how well our students are doing in CPS, and we see firsthand how we elevate um the learning process.
015Um, beyond that, I think we are fiercely protective of this program. We are so fiercely protective of this program that this was literally the last thing that we settled in the contract before closing it up. Um, this program is important enough for the Chicago Teachers Union um to also ask the district to meet us halfway. We think that the NBCT space needs to have more um people of color represented in its ranks. Um, we set a goal some years ago and right now 38% of our NBCTs are um, educators of color, but I think that we can do better if we set a goal together as both the union and the district to encourage more of our um, educators of color um, to participate in that because we know that those educators choose to teach
016in the school communities that have been disinvested in for years and that need the most. Um, so again, very happy that we get to do this together. Um, very pleased that you all honor them in such a profound way. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Miss Davis Gates. It is now my pleasure to also welcome here Lynn Chowaskski Davis, director of teacher leadership for the CTU and manager of the CTU CPS national board certification partnership. She will introduce also three of our national board certified teachers. Thank you. Um, good afternoon, President Harden and our new board members, several of whom I'm pleased to know, CEO Martinez and Chief Chicumba. I'm Lynn Shaskki Davis, director of teacher leadership for the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation Quest Center, manager of the CTU CPS National Board Certification Programming,
017former member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Standards Development Team, and most importantly, a former CPS early childhood teacher. And I guess I'm that tough coach that sta Stacy introduced earlier. I I want to thank CPS and the board of education for believing in the power of national board certification and in continuing the support to support the labor management partnership that has produced nearly 3,000 CPS National Board Certified Teachers to date. We began with only seven 29 years ago. And now since beginning our partnership 27 years ago, we are proud to boast having the third largest number of NBCTs of any district in the nation. We are honored that you recognize them today with your resolution and of course always with your financial support. We appreciate the bargaining agreement that codifies that.
018I am proud that each of the 36 new NBCTs and the 80 uh board certified teachers who renewed their certificate this past year. Our 116 new and newly renewed board certified teachers being honored for their excellence by CPS today put their teaching to the test by voluntarily challenging themselves to go through this process, reflecting upon and improving their practice daily and confirming that they are teaching and leading to the highest standards in our profession. In order to become board certified, these teachers completed a two-year performance-based peer-reviewed process demonstrating their proven impact on student learning. Those who renewed their credential did it in one year. I have a few measurable metrics showing their deep commitment to personal and professional growth, student learning, and the teaching profession. Our NBCTs represent every CPS network and more than 60%
019of our schools have NBCTS on staff. In our newest class being represented here today, approximately 57% are early childhood elementary teachers and counselors. 38% are high school teachers and counselors and 5% work in teacher positions in networks or central office. Additionally, 19% are STEM teachers. Um, and 13.5% are exceptional needs or special education teachers. But the number of which we are most proud, as Stacy mentioned, is that 30 37% of our new NBCTs are teachers of color, up from last year, bringing our entire pool of CPS NBCTs of color to more than 38%. I'd say we are doing pretty well. While Chicago has one of the highest numbers of NBCTs of any district in the nation, there is still work to be done. Let's get teams of NBCTs in every school. I want to say
020that the CPSCTU national board certification professional development and candidate support program otherwise known as nurturing teacher leadership is committed to providing equitable learning for all students and we know that learning starts with accomplished educators. We are grateful that we can increase our numbers of NBC candidates in the next four years thanks to program funding in our new bargaining agreement to be ratified by you today. NBC is about elevating the teaching profession and it is about helping children achieve at higher rates. The board's certification process impacts teaching and learning well beyond an individual teachers classroom. Recognized as the gold standard, research on the advanced certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has proven that higher standards for teachers means higher achievement and better learning for students. A study by the consortium on Chicago school
021research on the achievement of CPS students taught by NBCTS bears this out and additionally notes that national board certified teachers have a 5% higher retention rate than other CPS teachers. Our board certified teachers are committed to social justice and and adaptation in the face of adversity and trauma. All the while counseling and teaching reading, math, science, physical education, both English and world language acquisition, social studies, and the arts, and supporting students with exceptional needs. They are committed to writing the narrative that helps our city's young people work toward achieving success and power, knowledge and competency and value and achievement regardless of obstacles or zip code. I thank you for your recognition today of our newest and newly renewed class of NBCTs who do just that. And thank you for the resolution which we will distribute
022to all 116 rep recipients at our celebration on May 1st at Kiri High School. I hope to see you there. Like you, I am proud that Chicago's National Board Certified Teachers embody the highest standards for accomplished practice. The two-year process our teachers went through wasn't easy, but it strengthened their individual practice, their schools, our district, and the teaching profession as a whole. And I am sure this will be borne out in their new three-year reach evaluation cycle. the nurturing teacher leadership program of our quest center and I thank you CEO Martinez, Chief Chakumbaba, board members and President Harden and most of all Stacy Davis Gates CTU president. Thank you for your support. Your continuing investment in our teachers and their professional growth is essential to student success. This can only lead to good things for
023our students and our city. Our newest class of NBCTs are represented so well here today by dual language early childhood teacher Anita Martinez and special education teacher and current NBC mentor Aaron Bell. Your CPS director of school leader engagement in the department of principal quality Chad Thomas will tell you why he renewed his NBC credential and how this benefits our teaching force and students. Thank you and thank you for your remarks. Good afternoon. I am Anita Martinez, a new early childhood generalist national board certified teacher. I teach first grade dual language in Mariano School. I chose to pursue national board certification to further my professional growth, earn my master's degree, and become a highly accomplished teacher. Thanks to your your CPSCTU nurturing h feature leadership NTO program partnership I have met all three goals. I
024benefited from the program design support and funding. Thank you. Going through the rigorous NBC process was challenging. It was especially difficult as I am an English language learner. In addition to weekly classes, I spent many nights and weekends reading and studying the early childhood standards and analyzing whether or not and to what degree I met them. I dedicated much time to writing portfolio entries, working with my mentor team, analyzing videos of my teaching and students work. I spent hours in my classroom trying out new researchdriven techniques. I reflected daily on how I would need to improve to in order to meet these high teaching standards. I read many articles and books on pertinent topics. For example, The Foundation of Children's Learning by Lisa Murphy reinforces the importance of play for six and seven year olds.
025In fact, I suggest for members to read this book to help pure decisions for early childhood programming, including the importance of play in first and second grade. I now fully understand the importance of addressing the needs of the whole child. Recognizing that each student is unique, capable, and naturally inquisitive through play, even first grade students regulate their emotions, develop social skills, and build critical thinking abilities. Even though this is a rigorous professional development process, it is doable for all our teachers. In fact, I was one of the few candidates who did not achieve certification on their first attempt, but you were there with your cohort model to support me through the retake process. And now I am part of the NL's 93% success rate. Since becoming an NBCT, I have taken on more leadership roles
026to add value to my school and district. This year I provided professional development at the CPS dual language conference on mastering conventions developing strong writing skills through weekly dictations bridge and rich lessons. I taught teachers that it is essential for the young students to develop strong word skills including mechanics, spelling, punctuation, fluency and and organization of ideas. To support this learning, I taught strategies of elictado dictation which reinforces these foundational skills in an engaging and structured way. It was in NL that I learned the importance of using explicit vocabulary instruction because this is a strong pred predator of reading comprehension. I will end by sharing that I stand with our new bargaining agreement in advocating for increased support for ELLs such as providing more bilingual staff and assistance. My refugee and newcomer students who are
027non-readers or writers surely would thank you for agreeing with CTU about the importance of this in our district. I am grateful to CPS and CTU for providing me with this opportunity to grow in my profession and helping me achieve my goal. It was reinforced my commitment to students learning deepen my understanding of the subjects I teach and how to effectively deliver them. is threatened my role as a student advocate and enhanced my ability to monitor students progress. I no longer need to rely on behavioral charts or fill in the blank answers. This learning has made a significant impact on my students who actively engage in meaningful collaborative discussions, self-monitoring their own behavior and demonstrate respect and empathy toward one another. My school has also benefited from my NTL experience as I have brought my learning
028to our kindergarten through second grade colleagues. Again, thank you, President Davis Gates, Co Martinez, and members of the board of education. Good afternoon. I'm Aaron Bell and I'm proud to be a newly national board certified early childhood through young adult exceptional needs specialist, a national board special education teacher. Thank you for recognizing our work today and supporting the nutrient teacher leadership initiative, a powerful partnership between the Chicago Teachers Union and C and CPS that elevates teacher quality. Your support of the of the new bargaining agreement is also greatly appreciated. It reduces administrative burdens, encourages collaboration, and gives special education teachers like myself more time to focus on what matters most, which is student growth. At my southside school, our students are 100% minority and 96% of them are considered economically disadvantaged. We're labeled hard to
029staff by Isby and have other unique challenges. But let me be clear. Our students deserve excellence. They are they deserve pathbreaking solutions that meet their unique needs. That belief led me to pursue national board certification. Its rigor along with professional development like NL and innovative policies from you empower teachers to make lasting changes. My journey stands as an example. It tested my limits. As the only middle school resource teacher in my building, I taught four subjects across three grade levels. And as the only teacher with an ESL endorsement, I was also assigned the role of the English language program teacher. Balancing all that plus assessments and providing teacher support could have derailed my progress, but my NL cohort kept me grounded. Meeting regularly with candidates across the district gave me the push and the growth
030that I needed. With your continued support and our new bargaining agreement, I remain hopeful. I believe that we will see more ESL endorsed teachers and national board certified teachers in our most diverse schools because of the national board process and NL's emphasis on deep reflection. I've changed. I'm more intentional with the decisions and lead with inquiry. My teaching is more collaborative which drives students to take ownership of their learning and growth. I've reflect daily on student data and guide my co-teers to do the same in order to improve our practice. I've reshaped the way that I engage with families, which guides me in creating lessons that are more student centered and motivating. The results, two of my national board components earn nearperfect scores. But more than that, I am a more confident teacher and my
031students are more engaged than ever. Though my national I am national board certified, my journey isn't over. I plan to renew in five years and I'm mentoring new candidates and working to increase the number of highly accomplished black and brown educators, especially in classrooms where students can see themselves and feel seen. To the board of education, CE Mo Martinez, Cedo Shakumbova, thank you for investing in teachers. To the Chicago Teachers Union, President Stacy Gates, St. Davis Gates, I'm thank you for your powerful advocacy and the NL program. Together, we are building stronger schools and brighter futures for all our students. Hello, my name is Chad Thomas and I am the director of school leader engagement in the department of principal quality DPQ. First, I want to sincerely thank the board and CTU for continuing to
032invest in national board certification. This investment has a direct imp direct transformative impact not just on educators like me but on the students, teachers, and school leaders we serve across Chicago. I earned my national board certification in 2005 while teaching reading at Farragate High School. As a former special education student myself, I knew early on that I wanted to create a classroom where all students could learn and grow in ways that honored their passions and needs. The CTu NBC cohort certification learning model introduced me to many new instructional strategies. But even more importantly, my students grew more than two grade levels in reading in one year. Going through national board process taught me the power of reflection, importance of growth mindset. It sharpened my practice and deepened my understanding of what sound instruction truly looks
033like. More importantly, it made me a more student centered teacher. When I became a principal in 2014, my national board renewal came up. I saw it as an opportunity to model for my staff that I was and always will be a teacher. With this, with the support of the CTU and NBC mentor, I completed my renewal and walked away with an even stronger grasp of instructional excellence from so the social emotional needs to the curriculum needs of students. Just when my school needed it the most, my staff benefited from the reading resources of the CTU, NBC renewal process as well. We immersed ourselves into schoolwide reading strategies at each grade level and each content team and our personalized instruction for each students based on their reading levels and interest. Today, as the director of school
034leader engagement in the department of principal quality, I continue to renew my national board certification, now for the second time. I had even taught in Miss Ferlong's English class at North Grand High School thanks to the generosity of Principal Felts. Why? Because I wanted to stay grounded in practice and because I believe that to support our principles and teachers well, I need to stay close to the work. The NBC rubrics clearly define what sound instruction looks like in action. And students need teachers that are committed to growing their craft. Renewing my National Board Certification has shaped my leadership philosophy, my coaching, and my ability to guide school leaders. It reminds me daily that great teaching is both an art and a science. And that reflection and continuous improvement are non-negotiables at every level of this
035district. Again, thank you to CPS and the Board of Education for prioritizing and investing the ongoing development of its talent, particularly supporting instructional excellence. Thank you to all of our speakers and congratulations to all of our new and renewed national board certified teachers. President Harden, this concludes Donor in excellence section and I'll turn it over to you or board members for comments. Thank you board members. Are there any comments or questions? I want to thank you all for the collaboration and it's so important that professional development is happening and I look forward to more expansion as it pertains to teachers of color. Thank you for your work. Are there any other comments from board members? If not, CEO Martinez, we're ready for your marks. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll begin with some exciting news for
036three CPS high schools. The first is the Ray Graham Training Center who recently received the 2025 Keith Magnuson Spirit Award from the Special Children's Charities. Thi this distinguished honor honors special Olympic teams that exemplify the spirit of dreaming big, overcoming obstacles, and achieving goals. Ray Graham has demonstrated the spirit through the unwavering its unwavering commitment to it self-improvement and by always giving their best effort to the Chicago Park District programs. I commend head coaches Katie Jones, Tiana Sanders along with the entire coaching staff at Ray Graham for shaping student athletes who are shining example for others. Their sportsmanship, determination, and enthusiasm are truly inspiring. Ray Graham student athletes will have the honor of carrying the torch and lighting the cauldron as we kick off the 2025 Special Olympic Spring Games on May 1st. I congratulate
037the entire Ray Graham community on this well-deserved recognition of their hard work, dedication, and incredible spirit. And if you haven't attended, visited that school board members, I I really recommend it. It's it's a school full of love, full of inclusion. It's one of my favorite schools. I also want to congratulate our dual debate team champions. Congrats go out to not one but two national champion CPS high school debate teams. The teams from Kenwood and Backofthe-art high schools traveled to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month to compete at the 2025 Urban Debate National Championship. Hosted by the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues. This three-day tournament is the capstone event of the competition season for debate teams from Los Angeles to Boston and everywhere in between. For the second year in a row, the
038team from Kenwood was crowned this year's Urban Debate National Champions. Go Broncos. Not to be undone, the team of Back of the Yards also achieved a national champion championship in the debate and espanol event. This team from Back of the Yards is Chicago's first ever high school Spanish language debate team, providing opportunities for for multilingual students to engage in debate in their in their native language. Despite Yep. Let's give it up. Despite only being in their second year of their competition of the competition, they brought home the title. I could not be more proud of the teams from both Kenwood and Back of the Yards, and I thank our students and their adviserss for representing CPS so well on the national stage. Additionally, I can't miss the opportunity to highlight some of our phenomenal school
039leaders. Our district celebrated assistant princip uh assistant principal appreciation week earlier this month from April 7th to April 11th. Throughout the week, we showca we showcase our crit how critical our assistant principles are to the success of our schools. They are invaluable partners to our principles, anticipating their needs and helping them shoulder the responsibility of leading a school community. They also provide a constant support for their colleagues, giving them the coaching they need and connecting them with resources to help our students thrive. Our students and families love their APS because they're motivational, encouraging, and knowledgeable. I hope that you will join me in continuing in continuing to uplift these amazing leaders for all their hard work this school year. Next, I want to remind everyone that prek applications are now open for the 2526 school
040year. There are proven benefits to jumpstarting a highquality education as early as possible. That is why CPS has has been expanding early childhood education programs across the city for several years, beginning with Chicago's most underresourced communities. I am proud that every four-year-old in Chicago's 77 communities now has the access to free full day preschool programming. In addition, some half-day programs are also available for our city's three-year-olds. All pre-k programs are designed to boost academic skills, fuel intellectual curiosity, foster independence, and instill a lifelong love of learning in our youngest students. I urge all families with preschool age children to explore their options for the next school year at chicagoarning.com. Again, uh for at chicagoarning.com. Another area that I'm proud to report is how how we've been improving our transportation services. As you all know, and
041as was widely reported in the media, CPS has been working through a persistent nationwide driver shortage that has made transportation for our students particularly challenging. But thanks to the hard work of our student transportation services team and our contributing teams like Talent and ONS, we've made significant progress on working with schools to adjust bell times, creating a new hubtop model for genet students, and working tirelessly to recruit more drivers. We're in a much better place than last year. I'm going to ask our team to pull up a table just to give you some data points. Last year at this time, we had 738 drivers. This year, we've grown our workforce to 91 drivers. That's 20. It's a 22% increase. Because of this increased capacity, we're now transporting 14,320 students compared to 9295 last year. Ladies
042and gentlemen, it's a 54% increase. For students with disabilities, we're now transporting 12,16 students compared to 8714 at at this time last year. That's a 30 38% increase. And when it comes to general ed students, at at this time last year, we're only able to transport 439 students. This year we're up to 265. That's a 370% increase. The increase in D driver capacity is has also allowed us to wind down our stipen program where last year we had 3,688 students receiving a stipen and this year it's only 112. That means that families are getting the transportation they wanted in the first place with substantial cost savings for the district. A win-win. I'm so proud of our team for their work in this area. We've made a personal commitment to our families that we will not
043stop working until this problem is entirely fixed. The commitment still stands. We still have 2,800 requests for transportation for general education students and countless others who did not even bother applying because of our capacity issues. So, we're as as proud as we are of this progress, please families know we are not going to give up until we continue to put every child that needs to be on a bus. I'm also excited to announce the expansion of our roadmap, our nationally recognized higher higher education partnership with the city city colleges of Chicago. Phase one of the road map had been to provide a seamless transition from high school to community college. We're proud of the work that has been done here, which includes a 62% increase in the number of students and uh of students enrolling
044in early college courses as well as a greater exposure to career pathways through hands-on hands-on work-based training. Now, we're in phase two, which is continuing the seamless transition towards a 4-year degree. I want to thank our partners at the University of Illinois at Chicago UIC for being a partner in this effort. Roadmap 2.0 will help students retain credits, reduce the barriers to transfer so they can be successful in earning their bachelor's degree. Students will have access to personalized degree planning, coordinated academic advising, and additional resources to support CPS community colleges in UIC. And ladies and gentlemen, this is a big deal. You have to understand how difficult it is, especially for our first generation students to navigate the college system. And what UIC is doing is putting in a system that our CPS students, our
045community college students and UIC students will be able to use to see pathways in whatever major they choose, whether it's education, engineering, IT, all driven by AI. And then our current road map has more students than ever graduating with college credit, a record number of students graduating with a semester's worth of college credit all the way up to an associates degree. So again, just a lot to celebrate. I will now turn to the core of today's meeting, which is the approval of the new CTU contract. After nearly a full year at the bargaining table, we will soon have a 4-year labor agreement in place for our talented teachers. At its core, this contract fairly rewards our excellent work of our educators, makes investments that are financially responsible for the district, and keeps the best interests
046of our students at the forefront. I'm proud that even in challenging financial times, we're able to provide our educators with the compensation and benefits they deserve. I'm also proud that our teams were able to work together to avoid the kind of labor strike that has been so disruptive to our families in the past. I want to thank everyone who spent countless hours negotiating this contract, especially the members of our bargaining team who sacrificed nights, weekends, holidays, and time with their loved ones in service of our students and families. I'm also grateful to our families for their patience during this time and for engaging with the negotiations process while remaining fully focused on helping their students achieve success this school year. But even through the negot even though the negotiations have come to a close, the
047work doesn't end for CPS. The next phase is familiarizing our school leaders and staff with the contract, implementing the changes, and figuring out how to accommodate the costs from this contract into our budget. Today, along with the contract, the board will also vote on an amendment to our fiscal year 2025 budget to fund the first year of the agreement. Conversations are ongoing around funding strategies for the contract's future years with many avenues being explored. What we know for certain is that our financial outlook for the next several years is challenging and we must work together to find new revenue to better fund our schools. CPS is facing a projected budget shortfall of $529 million for fiscal year 2026. That means that the con that some combination of increased revenue and reduced expenses will need to
048be reached to balance this budget. That is why on April 29th, students, families, educators, and leaders from CPS and districts across the state will travel to Springfield to advocate for more state funding for our schools. This work is being done in concert with funding Illinois's future uh funding Illinois's future coalition led by Advance Illinois. CPS was proud to help lead the fight for the new evidence-based funding formula in Springfield, which was established in 2017. And we're proud to stand alongside districts from across the state in our push for more funding. Now, and here's what we're asking for this from the state. We're asking the state to increase the evidence-based formula from for public education across the state to $550 million each year. Increasing the financial support for nutrition, special education, transportation services across Illinois to
049$165 million per year. and increasing the support of early childhood to $75 million per year so that CPS can continue to offer preschool in every neighborhood of Chicago. Going to Springfield is only one way to support this campaign. Members of our school communities can add their voices by sharing what's what more funding would mean for their schools. We have created a list of resources to help our stakeholders share their stories, including sample emails to lawmakers and sample media uh social media po posts. This can be found at cps.edu edu/advocacy day. The more people who participate in this campaign, the more impactful our message will be. So, I encourage all of our families, educators, and partners to share their stories on or after advocacy day event on April 29th. I want to be clear, this is
050just the latest part of our district's legis legislative strategy. Since the beginning of the legislative session, we've had a permanent presence in Springfield, working behind the scenes with lawmakers to press for more funding. We're excited to bring our students, educators, and parents to underscore how important it is that our schools get the funding they deserve. Mr. President, this concludes my prepared remarks. Thank you, board members. Are there any comments or questions? We have no committee updates this month. You have a comment. Thank you, CEO, for your um report. Um I am also incredibly proud of this contract uh that includes a groundbreaking commitment to green schools. I have um built my career on working for our communities to have safe and healthy communities and school buildings. Uh and for the first time there is language
051that makes sustainability um a core part of our education vision and that's really exciting for me. um ensuring that our school buildings are are safe and healthy and climate resilient. Uh this is also a historic step um that shows that we are serious about climate and environmental justice and the students well-being. So I'm I'm really happy uh that this is actually uh happening in as part of this contract and I really commend everybody who worked to make that part of the the contract. This is exciting. Thank you. Are there any more comments or questions? We have no committee updates this month, so we'll now proceed. I'm sorry, Sydney, please. Thank you for all all of the updates. This is very exciting to hear how our students and teachers and communities are doing. Uh I did
052I hear you say that the road map expansion is driven by AI? Yes, Bormer. So, you know what we're um we we had a press event with Chancellor Chancellor Miranda from UIC and what was exciting is that they've developed a new system that uh especially and I should and thank you for your question. It is especially going to be helpful for our transfer students. So, we have a quite a number of students that want to start at the community colleges but are always worried about how easy it is to transfer to universities like UIC. So, they have a a student described it as transferology. I don't know if that's the actual name of the program, but uh so basically it shows students uh what how to transfer from UIC from their community college at any
053point in time they want whether they have an associates degree or not. And uh the commitment that the chancellor made is that they will be in both chancellors from the community colleges and in UIC is that there will be zero credit loss. There's a guarantee that all credits will transfer. So this is a big deal. And then for our students who are already taking college classes in high school, this will be a tool that they will also be able to see as they look at pathways in different majors that they want. So it is um uh and I I'll seal the chancellor's words. She said, you know, this is this is something that is uh going to show the nation u you know how to do this. This is probably one of the first of
054its kind. And so it's something that's a big deal. And if anybody was a first generation student, you understand I mean the navigating these college systems are just so difficult. So again, I couldn't be prouder of of our partnership. There being no other comments, we'll proceed with today's public participation session. Thank you all for joining to share your comments with the board in compliance with the open meetings act. Public participation, sometimes referred to as public comment, is a portion of the board meeting or hearing that grants district stakeholders the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments. Note that public participation is a time for board and CPS leadership to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue with board members during or after your remarks. While we can't discuss
055personnel matters, public participation is a key component of transparent governance and it provides us as board members as well as senior leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has signed to speak. The board takes equity of voice seriously. While we may not address your comments directly during public participation, CPS leadership is always present at our meetings and are able to address concerns as follow-ups after the meeting. As a district and as a board, we also have many other spaces for authentic dialogue. For example, each and every one of our board members host board hours so that we can have conversation. Please use our website cpsbboe.org if you want to meet with the board member during office hours. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with board members outside of a
056board meeting. Thank you for your attention and consideration. As a reminder, UNI representatives will be allotted 5 minutes to speak and elected officials will be allotted five minutes to speak after the conclusion of public participation. Board Secretary, please share the rules of public participation. Thank you, President Harden. Members of the public who registered to speak were given the option to attend in person or via an electronic format. For those who prefer to attend by an electronic format, they were given information to access this meeting by dialing a number and using their phone. We did this so that speakers with limited or no access to the internet or who may have weak internet internet connection could still participate using their phones. Also, members of the public may submit written comments for board of education meetings via
057the written comments form on the board's website at cpsboe.org or mailed to one north Dearborn sweet 950. Written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5:00 PM the day after the board of education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within five business days on our website at cpsb.org. Speakers, please listen while I provide directions for public participation. I will call your name and number when it is your turn to speak. For speakers joining us virtually, as a reminder to unmute, please enter star six. Once you hear your name, please state your name for the record. I will then start the two-minut timer. When there are 30 seconds remaining, I will inform you so that you can proceed to conclude your remarks to allow for the next speaker to
058begin. For anyone standing with the speaker, please stand along the glass partitions to keep all aisles clear. Thank you. And President Harden, before we begin calling speakers from the speakers list, we do have union reps who would like to address the board. We'll begin with Stacy Davis Gates, CTU president, who is here in person. Good afternoon again. Um to President Harden, to Vice President Bautista, and to new mother again, Jenny Kuster. Congratulations and welcome back. um you need that same parental leave policy that um our members get or the entire Chicago public schools gets. Um but welcome back. Um good afternoon to everyone on the board. Um you know, it's kind of odd to come up here and say that we made good on something together that is an inflection point in what we believe
059will be the transformation of our school district. Um, we have a contract. Um, we have a contract that did not require a strike vote. We have a contract that did not require a strike. That is a significant development considering up until this point that is what it has taken to get us here. Um, we attribute that in part to your participation in the transformation of our district. Thank you for being engaged. Thank you for caring about our young people. Um, it matters to have representatives who will ultimately be responsible and accountable. So, thank you for that. And also, thank you for the sacrifices of families, of students, and of our members in past contract years to get us where we are. Um, as an educator, learning is cumulative. And so learning has given us an
060opportunity to get what we perceive as a contract that respects the expertise of veteran teachers that um both acknowledges the bias in the evaluation system and seeks a remedy for that that is just and equitable. and that also sees all of our children in every zip code and prioritizes equity to account for the things that our young people need. Um, and that's important and we are asking for your vote. Um, as you've given and we we appreciate the support because it's going to take all of us to implement this contract. It's pretty big and it does a lot. It gives us more resources for sports. So our young people have transportation and uniforms. We deal with equity issues. So um girls softball is treated like boys baseball and um how it's resourced. Those things are
061important to us. It is important to us that this contract gives us an opportunity to say a school can have an art teacher and a physical education teacher and a music teacher. Not or and so many times it's been ore. We also are grateful that we'll have more sustainable community schools so we can celebrate more boys uh basketball championships like we did at diet this year. It is important that you know that dual languagemies will be available for students on the south side and the west side like they are on the north side. This contract does a lot and I want to challenge you and say that it can't do a lot all the time. We're going to need your help. We need your help because we can't wait every four years. This contract gives
062us less than a hundred school libraries and school librarians. You have the ability to do more of that. See, the deficit I just heard someone say the growth mindset, right? So, the deficit mindset would say, "Oh my god, how are we going to pay for this? I don't know how we've been paying for it." Right? The growth mindset says, "Let's all go to Springfield together." So very happy you're going with Advanced Illinois. So very happy that we're going at all because we're going to need everyone and then some to bring back what Chicago public school has deserved for generations. And I say that because you have a responsibility to take care of us. We have a lot of people here today from the charter space. And one of the things that this union is going
063to challenge this board with is to begin to care about our charter children enough to evaluate effectively the charter institution. We just got away from a school closings debacle at Aero. The school was renewed. 30 seconds remaining. So you have to begin to question what is the process under which these renewals happen? How will the lack of oversight and specific understanding of what it looks like on the ground, how does that impact families? The worst thing in the world is to go through a closings process. The worst thing in the world is to offer students an instability. So this isn't about the students. This isn't about the school itself. It is about the system and the process under which you all get to create that puts students first and that provides them with the utmost
064um evaluation of the space that provides them with what they need. Right now under your evaluation are some schools that have some very profound issues with staffing special education and bilingual education. We hope that you take those things into account. Thank you so much for your patience. Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Jen Conan, CTU Charter Division Vice Chair. I'm sorry, Charter Division Chair Good afternoon, members of the board. As you know, I'm Jen Conent, chair of CTU's charter division and an educator at CICS Northtown for many years. Today, you will be voting on the tentative agreement that CPS reached with CTU. The contract has many improvements that will strengthen protections for students and staff. It increases staffing at CPS schools, ensures more prep time for elementary teachers, reduces class sizes,
065and implements improvements for special education and bilingual education. This contract will make CPS schools better. The same is true in the charter space. The contracts C2 has won with charter operators have also improved these schools. We have won additional staffing, smaller class sizes, and equitable equitable compensation for educators, thereby stabilizing the schools. This spring, you are also considering charter renewals and renewal lengths. The last few months, you have heard me and others advocate for changes to the renewal process and or to the charter contracts with the district before you renew any charters in order to prevent anotherike situation. We do not want charter operators renewed this year to suddenly close their schools sometimes sometime next year. Families at charter schools should not have to go through the same pain that Aero families went through this
066year. Those families advocated for renewal in 2023 only to have Aero turn their back on them one year later by closing half of their schools. So once again, I'm here to urge you to pass policy reforming the charter renewal and contract process. Charters should not be able to give short notice on closing or to close mid-contract. They should not be able to keep reserves that came from funding for the school that they're closing. CPS should not have to bear financial responsibility for keeping those schools open when the charter operator is able to. And charter operators should have to provide more information to CPS so that they can see school closures coming. At Aspira, they received a seven-year renewal in 2018. During those seven years, enrollment declined precipitously, and CPS's oversight and renewal process did not
067help Espira Hogan or prevent it from closing at the end of this year. Instead, families found out the week before winter break that their school would be closing at the end of the school year. So, the renewal process should be both about accountability and support. CPS should be reviewing charter schools annually and providing feedback so that operators have the chance to improve. Students deserve the best schools possible, whether they're in district schools or charter schools. And if operators aren't meeting CPS expectations, they should have shorter terms with more oversight. That's accountability. At the last board meeting, INS, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, suggested that charter schools should only be evaluated on student performance. That's a bit vague, but let's assume that means growth or attainment on a specific set of standardized tests and that
068they suggested that the lowest performing schools should get a 3 to four year renewal. Everyone else should get more than that. But would charter operators be okay with struggling teachers getting evaluated only every 3 to four years? Of course not. It should be the same with charter schools and charter operators. They need to be evaluated and supported regularly to ensure they are meeting the academic and social emotional needs of students and to ensure that they are running their organization in a transparent and financially responsible way. Finally, I urge you all the board to create policy that will protect workers and by extension whole school communities. In his first 100 days, Trump has done more to destroy public education and labor rights than most presidents. This board, this district, and this city have the opportunity to
069protect schools and the people that work in them. The CPS-CTU contract says that charter operators renewed by this board should have to remain neutral if workers want to unionize. Run with that. Create the language and the policy that protects workers right to organize and to join a union and provide an enforcement mechanism. Any public school that is privately run that is doing the right thing will see how a resolution or policy around union neutrality will uplift their school and it will hold others who may be hiding behind private boards and closed doors more accountable while they take public dollars. We know that there would have been a different outcome for our schools had those schools not been unionized and standing alongside families to fight for those schools. We want that for all of our schools.
070I want to thank you all for your hard work. 30 seconds. You have a lot on your plate and have an essential role in ensuring the success of all schools for the sake of Chicago's children. So, thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your comments. Our next union rep is Tumain Reeves, SEIU Local 73, director of CPS division. Good afternoon. Greetings to President Harmon Harden, Vice President Batista, and esteemed uh Chicago public school board members. My name is Tummaine Reeves and I serve as an elected board member and newly appointed director of the CPS division of SEIU Local 73 and I will be taking over for if uh executive vice president Staca Scott Kennedy at SEIU Local 73. We represent a wide range of support staff classifications across the district including board
071bus aids. Today I am here to present an urgent opportunity to strengthen protections for the students and staff who rely on school bus transportation. As many of you are aware, four transportation vendor contracts currently in their final extension phases are set to expire this upcoming June 30th with the remaining nine contracts set to uh the remaining nine contracts set to expire July 31st of this year. On behalf of the students and CPS bus aids who use these services, SEIU Local 73 is calling on the board to set higher standards for transportation vendors before any new agreements are signed or extended. Specifically, we are urging the board to mandate that all school buses be equipped with functioning air conditioning and heat at all times. The current contracts only require these features if a student's IEP or
072504 plan explicitly states that need. This limited language has left many students and staff in unsafe and uncomfortable conditions. During the past recent two summers, amid citywide heat advisories, CPS had to scramble at the last minute to provide room temperature of bottled waters and cardboard fans in an effort to mitigate the unbearable heat on buses lacking proper air conditioning. Similarly, when the winter months, students and staff are left shivering on buses due to lack of heat. So, in closing on this matter, SEIU Local 73 respectfully asks the board to consider following um consider the following before entering into any new transportation vendor agreements. Number one, Chicago regularly experiences extreme heat and cold, sometimes in the same week. Two, many of the students using these services are among the most vulnerable and some of them are
073non-verbal and unable to express when they are um feeling discomfort. They can't express that I'm hot, I'm thirsty, I'm not comfortable. Three, there is significant liability um for the district should a student or staff member suffer from heat exhaustion or frostbite due to inadequate bus conditions. And then finally four and most importantly, the contracts approved by the board should reflect CPS's blueprint which prioritizes operational excellence and highquality services. Thank you for your time and your attention to this urgent and preventable issue. Thank you for your comments, President Harden. We are now ready to call speakers from the speakers list. And we'll begin with the first group from North Londale College Prep. Speaker number one, Gregory Hickman, who's joining us virtually. Speaker number 12, Tash Stevenson. Speaker number 16, Angel Allison. And speaker 25, Ricky Jones,
074who's also joining us virtually. Gregory Hickman. Please enter star six to unmute. Hi, Gregory Hick. Can you guys hear me? Yes, please proceed. Okay. My name is Greg Hickman and I returned to teach at Northwale College Prep at the beginning of the 2024 25 school year. I love working at MLCP and when I moved back to Chicago last year, it was the only school that I wanted to work at. It's not only where I've planted my roots and grown as an educator, it's where I've built my community and where I've witnessed the power of that community refusing to give up on its scholars over and over again. I didn't come back to NLCP just to teach. I came here because I believe in what this school stands for. Every day, I see scholars who are
075often overlooked or underestimated working to better themselves, growing as individuals, and seeing their own potential. I watch young people discover that they can be leaders and take control of their own destiny. And it's not just the students who feel empowered. This past school year, NLCP gave me the opportunity to pilot a business class rooted in real world skills, become a thriving course that's helping students understand how to build a small business venture of their own. I also just found out and I'm proud to share that next year this course will be offered to all of our sections. This honestly could have only happened here and it didn't happen by chance. The opportunity to grow as an educator happened because NLCP values what its educators bring to the table. Our leadership welcomes innovative teachers who show
076initiative, and that's the kind of culture that keeps teachers excited and engaged. And we all know excited, engaged teachers lead to excited, engaged students. In my years here, I've also had the joy of seeing former scholars return to North Lawndale. Some are educators now, some are community leaders, but all of them are proof that this school is doing what it promised to do, uplift the generation and build a stronger future for the community. You have 30 seconds remaining. I've dedicated my career to this place and I hope to retire here someday. That's how much I believe in this mission and in our scholars. This school is a part of me and a vital part of North Londale. That's why I'm urging you to renew NLCP's charter for another four years. It feels like the goalpost
077for new keeps moving and the people who are most impacted, our scholars, families, and my fellow staff members have little to no say in the matter. Let us keep doing the work and keep working to make life better for the youth in our community. Thank you for your time and for believing in the power of schools like ours. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Tash Stevenson, speaker number 12. Good afternoon board. My name is Tashidia Severson or Taj and I am a proud 2003 graduate of North Londale College Prep. As a little girl, I dreamed of being a superhero. My pick, the pink Power Ranger. She was fierce, she was fearless, and always showed up to save the day. Like so many kids in North Lawndale, I dreamed of being someone powerful
078who could help others while making a difference in my community. I'm here today because I didn't stop dreaming. And I didn't stop dreaming because North Londale College Pro wouldn't let me. At NLCP, your circumstances don't cancel your potential. The people at the school see your potential. And when the world even when the world does not, they understand what Benjamin Mays meant when he said, "The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goals. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach." NLCP gave me back my goals and it gave me back my dreams. It's because of NLCP that I had the opportunity to study nursing at Howard University. It's because of NLCP that I visited my colleg's campus well before I stepped foot on the campus as a student. It's because of NLCP
079that my books were paid for and my path was supported. And it's because of NLCP that for the past 16 years, I've worked to promote health equity in marginalized communities. And most of that work is the very community that educated me. No, I didn't become a Pink Power Ranger. But to my patients, my church, my family, and my community, I am a superhero. You have 30 seconds remaining. And I'm not And I'm not the only one. NLCP has produced hundreds of superheroes like me. Students who have gone on to become educators, social workers, artists, engineers, advocates, and entrepreneurs. They are dreamers turned doers. Kids who defied the data and redefined what is possible for a community that too many people have counted out. So today, I'm not just asking you to renew NLCP charter. I'm
080asking you, each and every one of you, to believe in the next generation of superheroes. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Angel Allison, speaker number 16. Good afternoon, esteemed board members. My name is Angel Allison and I am proud to currently be a student at North Londale College Prep. I'm here today to tell you NLCP is more than just a school to me. It is a place that is already shaping my life and my future. One of the things I love most about NLCP is the annual peace celebration at our school. This day is incredibly important to me because it give us all a chance to step away from the stress of classes, homework, and other personal challenges. It is a day of unity, joy, and a reminder that we
081are more than just students. We are a community. Knowing that we will have this special time to focus on peace and positivity helps me push through even the most difficult of weeks. Another reason I value NLCP is because of the peace warrior program. Peace warriors are a group of students and teachers who are ambassadors of peace. We interrupt nonsense. We spread love and kindness and we push for peace. Another reason I value NLCP is the Phoenix Hack scholarship program. College is a big deal for me, but financial barriers. But financial barriers, I'm sorry can make that dream feel impossible. The Phoenix Pack changes that. The program rewards hard work and dedication, helping students like me get the financial support we need to pursue higher education. Knowing that my school truly believes in my gives me
082the extra motivation to keep striving for excellence. Finally, what makes NLCP truly special are the friendships I've built. High school isn't always easy, but having close friends have made all the difference, and I believe everyone deserves a school where they can find that kind of support and encouragement. I respectfully urge you to renew NLCP's charter so that students like me can continue to experience a place where we feel supported, encouraged, and prepared for the future. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Ricky Jones who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, please proceed. Okay. Good afternoon, board members. My name is Ricky. I have the had the honor of working with North Londale College Prep for the past five years. I am
083a P professional who work on oneonone with students and disabilities, but also wear many hats such as helping run our driver's ed program, supporting the campus transition team, and just jumping in whenever I'm needed. It's a role that allow me to grow tremendously both professionally and and personally. What makes NLTP so special to me and so many others? It just not it's not just the work we do, but the impact that we see on a daily basis. I witness firsthand the challenges that our students face such as community violence. For some, the weight of this challenges can be heavy. In addition to pressure to fit in to succeed academic and for students with disabilities, the added capacity of navigating system that has not always been built with them in mind. Well, here's the thing about
084our students at LNCP. They don't give up and neither do I. Do I and we over the years I have seen these students once struggled to find a place come into their own gathering confidence, skills and belief in themselves. Watching them walk across that stage at graduation knowing they made it to college and beyond. One of the most rewarding experience I have had. But NLCP is not just about sending student into the world. It's about building community that they come back to to support and other first generation. We see former students returning to work here to mentor new students and to show the next wave of Jun graduates that is impossible to grad to overcome obstacle and succeed. As we prepare to bring in our two schools under one roof next year, I have no
085doubt that NSP will be only stronger. The changes will be implemented will make a growing impact on the students and family we serve and we continue to be a cornerstone in North Londale community. I incredibly proud of the work we do and honored to be a part of that team that truly cares about the success of each and every student. I ask you to renew our challenge without further delay so we can continue to support important work and make a bigger impact in the years to come. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Mary or speaker number two who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon. My name is Mary Margaret our I'm a proud LSC member and teacher from Hogan Elementary School. Thank you for
086allowing me to speak with you today. Hogan is near and dear to my heart. I have worked my entire CPS career here and my husband is a graduate from Hogan as well. Pogan is a large thriving neighborhood school that has faced overcrowding issue for decades. 20 years ago, a new building was built to serve as Hoggin's middle school. However, against the wishes of the community, that building was given to a charter network, a political decision that destabilized Hogan for years. Now, two decades later, we are once again at capacity. We are hoping that this situation can be considered today. We are asking CPS to allow Hogan Elementary School to colllocate in the building that was originally built for our neighborhood students. We understand that there are laws about dates to apply to move into spaces,
087but a spirit charter decided to announce after the October 1st deadline, so we could not make our desire to move into that property known. Plugin is currently on track to grow in the 2526 school year by four to five classrooms. This would display specials teachers like STEM, music, and dance to be taught on a cart. This is not conducive for anyone. Students would remain in their rooms most of each day. Specials would need to minimalize materials that they could use and moving teachers out of their rooms during precious seconds remaining. We do understand that Hogan is technically not overcrowded and we do that there know that there's a new formula coming next year. We really really would appreciate to be considered to colllocate with North River in the space of 3729 uh West Leland. It's
088just two blocks away from our school. We feel that this would be an excellent option to alleviate all of the neighborhood students who want to come to Hogan to participate in our school. We really hope you will consider our request to colllocate in the underutilized building just two blocks away. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for your comments. Our next three speakers are from Perspectives Charter Schools, Malia Francis, speaker number three, Terrell Shaw, speaker number 22, and Destiny Bloomingberg, speaker number 30. As you come to stand with the speaker, please stand along along the glass partition. Please proceed. Good afternoon, Chicago Board of Education. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you all today. My name is Malia Francis and I am a eighth grader at Perspective Leadership Campus.
089I am here today to tell you about Perspectives and what my experience has been as a perspective students. Perspectives is a very welcoming and understanding school. If we're having trouble with something, there is always someone we can talk to. It's easy to find staff so we can ask our teachers for extra help. I have been able to get good grades. I'm on the honor row and I have done both track and cheer. Other activities other activities I have done include cosmetology, cooking, arts, gaming, and yearbook. I have been able to learn so many things at Perspectives. Our teachers really demonstrate that they care about us and our success especially during sanca. Sanc Kofa is definitely the best time of the day. During Sanc Kofa, the whole school gets together and sometimes in small groups and
090sometimes as an entire school. We we bond together, go over school goals, and we have some fun activities including basketball tournaments, pizza parties, pizza parties that help us get to know one another one another and have a positive time in school. When I began perspectives in the seventh grade, one of the first things I noticed at perspectives has something called a disciplined life. Is something is something where you apply yourself to rules. A life where you hold yourself accountable to your actions. It also means that you're a compassionate and caring person. A disciplined life definitely has helped me become the student and person I am today. Lastly, there's a principle of a disciplined life called act listen actively. I can say that the teachers hear us out at perspectives and show this principle. They take
091our advice on things we want and they want to understand how we can work together. Thank you for listening. I hope you will consider the positive experience I've had which I believe many of my classmates have had as you make the decision about perspectives. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Terrell Shaw, speaker number 22. Good afternoon members of the board of education. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you all today. My name is Terrell Shaw and I am a proud graduate of Perspectives Charter Schools. For the past four years, I've had the honor of serving as an app design teacher as well as entrepreneurship teacher at Perspectives Leadership Campus. perspectives changed the trajectory of my life. As a student, I was pushed to grow, challenge, lead,
092and I was supported every step of the way. The culture of ADL, a disciplined life, didn't just prepare me for college, it also prepared me to show up in the world with confidence and purpose. Perspectives has done the same for so many of his students over the years. When I think about my classmates, I was one of six members of Perspectives 8th grade graduating class who returned to work at Perspectives. It is a testament to Perspectives impact that its alumni are inspired to come back and embrace the incredibly important work of educating our next generation of students. Perspectives has become a vehicle for generational change and continues to be an integral part of the community that it serves. Every day I pour my all into my students the same way that my teachers pour into
093me. Whether it's teaching my students computer coding to designing their apps, coaching the track team after school, or engaging with my colleagues and making inspirational ACT pumpup videos to inspire our students. You have 30 seconds. I am inspired to give my all because my students deserve nothing but the best. By providing my students with the excellent education, I want to show my students that I believe in them. that perspectives believes in them and that all of their dreams are possible and attainable. In closing, I am immensely grateful for your time. I am honored to work at Perspectives and respectfully ask that you grant Perspectives 7 to 10year charter renewal so that we can continue to make the strong impact on all of our students lives. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. The
094next speaker is Destiny Bloomingberg, speaker number 30. Members of the board of education, I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak to you all today. My name is Destiny Bloomberg and I am a freshman at one of the perspectives leadership campuses. I can say confidently that I really love my school. I started to attend Perspectives in the sixth grade like my sister who also started in Perspectives and graduated from one of the perspectives high schools. One thing that was different about Perspectives over my previous schools was a discipline life. A disciplined life is a way of life that asks you to be better that pushes you to find your better self. Through a disciplined life, I learned about one of its principles. Accept only quality work from yourself. Being transparent, I have been a
095procrastinator my whole life throughout certain things, but now I realize expecting the best from yourself only sets you up for success. I've been getting good grades throughout my life and learning to accept quality work from yourself, knowing that as a kid from now is making me the person that I am today. And with accepting quality work from yourself, it helps me with things outside of school like my chores, etc. And now I put my full effort into everything that I do. At Perspectives, I like the variety of after school programs. Previously, I've done volleyball and cheerleading. There are many things that I could choose from, and there is really something for everyone. The teachers at Perspectives are supportive and dependable and try to make learning fun. In addition to my regular classes, I've had the
096chance to learn about film, photography, cooking, debate, yearbook, and so much more. If there are ever any questions, our teachers are always there to help us. I really like how welcoming our school is, and if we do a good job, we get acknowledged and our work is never done unnoticed. You have 30 seconds remaining. I am excited to to continue my high school journey at Perspectives. In the future, I want to be an occupational therapist and I know by accepting quality work for myself, I can reach that goal. Thank you for listening and I hope that you'll consider the positive experiences that I had which I believe many of my classmates have had as you make decisions about perspectives. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Nelly Navas Dentes, speaker number
097four. Nelly Navas Durant. Speaker number four. Good afternoon. I am here as an educational advocate for Maria Hamea Perez and her son Anel. We are here to request that the board investigate Intrinsic School's handling of Anel being expelled. Anel was physically assaulted. He suffered head trauma, a bloody nose, and blurred vision. He struck no one. Under emotional distress, Anel reacted. He threatened the other student. This led to the manifestation determination review. The psychologist and social worker provided testimony stating an actions were the result of his disability. Also, intrinsic failed to follow IEP protocol. Anill's physician also provided a written statement noting an verbal reaction is complicated by his ADHD and Anel is not a threat to anyone. Mrs. Hamika was surprised to learn the MDR meeting would lead to a hearing expulsion. Not well informed,
098she assumed it was like an IEP meeting and her son would get more help, more support. Anel has been at Intrinsic since 7th grade, five years. Presently a junior with less than two months from becoming a senior. He's also an AB student. So, we are here requesting that the board reinstate Anel at intrinsic school and complete a thorough investigation of this injustice to the parent by denying her due process, not informing her well, just handing her forms and of course um reinstating Anel. It would do no one any good to expel him. Not him, not his family, not society. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Our next group of speakers are from the safe passage advoc advocacy group. Angela Hurlock, speaker number five. Javier Rodriguez, speaker number six. Sylvia Simpson, speaker
099number 17. Iliot Jackson, speaker number 20. Phyllis Harold, speaker number 21, and Virgil Crawford, speaker number 28. Okay, we'll move to speaker 17 from the group, Sylvia Simpson. Speaker number five and speaker number six are not here. Sorry. Good try. Please stand along the glass partition to keep the aisles clear. Thank you. Good afternoon, President Harden and member members of the board. My name is Sylvia Simpson, a member of the executive team of Alliance for Community Peace. We, the safe passage team, are the original boots on the ground, dedicated community workers standing alongside our neighborhoods. Over the years, we have proudly supported CPS through numerous initiatives including census outreach, LSC election support, trrencia efforts, meal safety and school supply distribution, co mask distribution, and most importantly, protecting Chicago children's around the winter, spring, summer, and
100fall. We welcome the opportunity to meet with the members of the board, CPS safety and security, acting chief Rona Shableski, Director Gregory Sain, and the CPS budget analyst team to discuss the continued funding of the future of the safe hazard program. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker, Iliad Jackson, speaker number 20. Good afternoon, board members. Um, I'm a member of the west side of Chicago. The moment we heard that safe passage was threatened, it was unacceptable. I reached out to our board member Aaron G2 Brown. Thank you, brother, for always being on call. It's It's unacceptable. Our children cannot continue to be left behind. They just can't. I mean, as I sit here and look at the board members, President Harden, thank you for allowing me to speak.
101What about our babies? What about our children? Safe Passage is the only thing that's been protecting them for the last decade. How could it ever be considered to be underfunded, discontinued? It's unacceptable. So, as a community, I stand in solidarity right here. Look, it got to be supported at all costs. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker is Phyllis Herrell, speaker number 21. Greetings, President Harden, members of the board, CEO, Superintendent Martinez. My name is Reverend Phyllis Herell, CEO of Alliance for Community Peace. We stand before you today as concerned parents, educators, and community members urging you to support and preserve the CPS safe passage program. Program was established in 2009 and is more than just a service. It is a lifeline for thousands of students and families across Chicago. The reality is
102many of our students neighborhood navigate our neighborhoods without guaranteed safety. Safe passage ensures that children can get to and from school without fear, providing trained staff who builds relationships within the communities, deter crime, and serve as trusted eyes and ears along designated routes. It offers more than security. It offers peace of mind to families and promises uninterrupted education. Currently, Safe Passage has 191 schools which it serves and 30 more on a waiting list. But recently, cutting to funding and reduction in staff and hiring freeze have threatened the stability of this program. These reductions don't just affect numbers on a budget sheet. They affect lives. It is we that failed to if we fail to support safe passage, we risk increasing absenteeism, lowering student morale, and placing unnecessary burdens on communities already facing difficulties. We cannot
103afford that. Investing in safe passage is investing in the success and well-being of our children. Reinstating funding and hiring trained personnel is not an expense. It is a commitment to the future and thus the city and its young people. I urge you members of the boards to prioritize safety, education, and equity by ensuring this program remains fully funded and staffed. Even in summer, we partner with the park district to provide safe passage for youth to get to and from schools and parks safely. That is a necessity. Necessity. Why? Because every child in Chicago deserves to walk to school without fear. Every family deserves to know their children are protected. And every community deserves a city that values their safety. Thank you for your time and consideration. Respectfully, all CPS safe passage vendors. Thank you for
104your comments. Our next speaker is Virgil Crawford, speaker number 28. Good afternoon. My name is Virgil Crawford to the board. Um I'm with the Westside Health Authority and I'm here today with 78,000 children on my mind. And um those 78,000 children made it to school and back home safe today because of safe passage. without the safe passage, the prospect of making it to school and back home. Uh for many children, uh it it would be a traumatizing thought, you know, uh with safe passage. Children look forward to going to school and having an invit inviting and exciting experience because they make it there safely. In today's society, most of us most of us pay a high price for safety. And in many cases, you know, it's not cheap. We have an initiative which have brought
105schools, law enforcement, community organizations and citizens together working to protect our future, our children in their most vulnerable years. Safe passage has played a significant role in supporting children and families as they travel to and from school every day. It's a tumultuous task. Nevertheless, our safe passage workers place a high priority on building relationshipships with students and allows them to be proactive in promoting a safe commute to school. We urge you to promote. We urge you to protect the program, expand it, most of all, make it a do not make it a budget football. We ask that you uh would just continue to fund this program. Vote yes for no uh vote no for no cuts and just think about the 78,000 students making it to school safely tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you for your
106comments. Our next two speakers are speaking regarding vaccinations. Paul Seagull, speaker number seven, who is joining us virtually, and Lynette Sims, speaker number 18. Paul Seagull, speaker number seven. Good afternoon. Um, you can hear me? Yes, please proceed. Uh, you Okay. Good afternoon. I'm Paul Seagull, founding member of People's Response Network, proud parent of a CPS alumnist, and I urge CPS to one promptly make all Chicago public schools the primary sites for CPS children to receive all mandated childhood vaccines, utilizing school nurses to the fullest extent. The 2019 CBA with CTU commits the Chicago public schools to put a nurse in every school. Two, implement vaccination education to respectfully address parents questions and concerns, including written information sent home with children several times a year, followed up with phone calls and creating health science curricula
107on vaccines from kindergarten upwards. I come to you not to criticize your sincere efforts, but to say from my heart and mind to yours. Today, to an unprecedented extent, we must govern the courage to fully mobilize and utilize our local public and community-based institutions, especially our schools, to save lives with science and truth. Life endangering disinformation is emanating from the highest federal levels and is implicated in over a thousand measles cases with three deaths and still counting. All 100% preventable through proven safe vaccines. CBS vaccination rates for measles as well as menitis and other diseases are below the threshold needed to prevent outbreaks according to our most recent available data state of Illinois dashboard at the local community level from the bottom up. We must move now 44% of all Illinois COVID cases were transmitted
108in the schools for state data. We beat polio through mass inschool vaccinations. Schools are where the children are, so using them is simple common sense. Please support our vaccines for children proposal. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Lynette Sims, speaker number 18. Thank you for the opportunity to provide public testimony at this month's Chicago Board of Education meeting. My comment is to urge the Chicago Board of Education to give students vaccines in their own schools to prevent disease and for effective education of parents, staff, children in the community. All Chicago public schools should be centers for on-site vaccinations. This is an urgent need to prevent the largest US measles outbreak in 25 years coming to Chicago. Measles is spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks.
109An infected person with measles can spread the disease to 12 to 18 other people on average. There are at least 6,000 CPS students right now not vaccinated for measles. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health statistics, there are now almost a thousand measel cases in the United States. And Illinois has had its first measles case of 2025. Last year, Chicago had a major measles outbreak of 67 cases, including Chicago public school students. Free vaccines in schools eliminated polio and measles from children in the 1950s and 1970s. Parents will no longer have to miss work to take their children to CVS, Walgreens, or a clinic to get a shot. This is public health and public schools for the public good. Thank you and I yield my turn. Thank you for your comments. Our next three
110speakers are from Institudo Health Science Center Academy. Theodora Banks, speaker number eight, Ivan Laauo, speaker number 24, and Karina Ayala Burmejo, speaker 27. to President Harden and all of the board members. My name is Theodora Banks, associate dean of nursing at Institudo College. I am here on behalf of Institutal Health Sciences Career Academy, IShka, to ask you to grant fair renewal terms for charter schools. Short-term renewals create instability and uncertainty, negativity, negatively impacting students, families, and school communities. Schools need adequate time to implement meaningful and lasting improvements. Ishka provides unique wraparound services to students and families that are essential to our community. Through the unique and strong pipelines we've built, Ishka students can access our pre-basic nursing assistant training and earn credentials as certified nursing assistants through our state approved basic nursing assistant program. Institutal
111College is coll-located within the high school and students who aspire to become registered nurses after they graduate can progress into the colleg's associate degree in nursing program. All prepare our students for future success. I ask that you grant Ishka a minimum fiveyear renewal term. Allow students the opportunity to participate in early career preparation. Students can gain a head start on a stable in demand career path, helping them transition smoothly from school to work or further their education. Seconds remaining. A minimum five-year renewal will help address healthc care workforce shortages in Chicago. A five-year renewal is not merely a vote of confidence in our past. It's an investment in the futures we are shaping today. Let us continue this mission. Let us continue transforming lives. I implore you to grant Ishka a minimum fiveyear renewal. Thank
112you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Ivon Lowel, speaker 24. I serve as dean of academic affairs at institutional college which provides an associate degree in nursing and basic nursing assistant training program for students to become CNAs the first rung of the nursing career ladder. I'm here because I care about CPS being a proud parent of two CPS graduates and the partner to a CPS graduate. I've served on numerous CPS parent advisory groups on LSC's and I was appointed by Arie Duncan to serve on the blue ribbon commission. But today I'm here to share the story of why it's so important to give Institut Health Sciences Career Academy, Ishka and all charter schools a fair renewal term. I'm here to highlight our secret sauce that makes Ishka stand out from other schools
113because of the built-in pipeline with Institut College. Ishka is uniquely positioned to help our high school students receive a leg up in the nursing field, particularly in a period where there is an urgent mandate for nurses, especially bilingual, biculturally competent nurses. While they're in high school, Ishka's students can enroll in the prebna and BNA courses. Completing the training program allows them to take the Illinois state exam and become CNAs. So before they graduate, they can attain the requirement of being a CNA needed for most nursing schools. Let's talk about the in economic impact of what's at stake. Institut provides all our eligible ISKA students with full tuition scholarships which at a private institution would be around 2,000. So after getting their certifications, our BNA graduates report getting average hourly wages of $21 per hour. That's
114before getting any degrees. 30 seconds remaining. Let me tell you about our recent 2024 graduate Jazelle. She graduated from Ishka, excelled in our BNA program, and worked as a CNA before returning to our college. She's now one of our special triple graduates. She's an RN, and so we're so proud of her grit and dedication. Given that our ADN graduates report earning an average hourly wage of $38, this transformative power and partnership between Ishka and the college is evident. Please consider giving Ishka a minimum five-year renewal term. Our students need such opportunities for education and advanced training leading to high wage, high-skll and in demand occupations like those in nursing. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Karina Ayala Bjo, speaker 27. Thank you, President Harden, Vice President Bautista, esteemed board members,
115CEO Martinez. It gives me such honor to be here. This is where my legal career began at the board of education and I have the distinct honor of serving as institutes president and CEO. I also stand before you as a mother of three CPS graduates. Um my baby is over at Chapman University. Thank you for the dedication you give all students. For 47 years, Instituto has served as a trusted anchor and community beacon of hope for the Latino immigrant community, delivering high quality education, workforce training, and legal services. Our mission is to empower our families to work in a pathway to economic mobility. You've heard Dr. Laauo and Dean Banks about our extraordinary institutal college. Now, Institute of Health Sciences Career Academy is central to that mission and as a pillar of academic excellence, Ishka
116offers a rigorous curriculum with a health science focus through the partnerships with Superior Ambulance Instituto College. Our students are graduating prepared to enter the workforce or continue post-secary education. Many many are graduating as emergency medical responders, CNAs, and future RNs. Now, we know CPS is dedicated to commitment of the sustainability schools. Um, and we know that the delay in our charter school is bringing real anxiety to our families. They limit our ability to retain top talent and invest in the student success. We implore and respectfully request to ensure institut receives at least a five-year renewal to allow our students already in the pipeline to accomplish their goals. Finally, we invite each of you to visit Instituto. We proudly are hosting members Lopez and members Gutierrez on May 14th and we invite all of you to
117witness the magic of Instituto. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next two speakers are from Aero, Ivonne Sanchez, speaker number nine, and Livia Estrada, speaker number 29, who is joining us virtually. Ivonne Sanchez, speaker nine. Hello once again. My name is Ibon Sanchez and I'm here today as a Charter Network parent, an advocate, and a proud member of Parents for Education to speak about something deeply important. Protecting our children's educations through clear standards and strong laws. Our school must be safe from corruption. We need transparency and accountability. A system that puts students, not profits, first. Sadly, Acetto has continued to leave a bitter taste in our mouths. They need to be held accountable. At their last board meeting, Asetto couldn't even follow their own agenda. They tried to silence a parent until CTU
118and other parent advocates stepped in. Now, on the town halls, they're not addressing our concerns. Suddenly, every issue is CPS responsibility. the expenses, the changes, the confusion, and yet they still want to be funded through this transition year. Enough. It's enough. We cannot let another charter network misuse our children's education, our tax dollars. No more greedy networks filling their pockets while our students and our staff are paying the price. That's why I and parent for education strongly support legislations like the amendment to the school code charter school SB 144. This amendment can help ensure that what happened with doto does not happen again. Now let me just be clear. I am not against charter networks. We have many charter schools here requesting renewals and I stand with those that who have done their job. those
119who have worked hard maintaining enrollments, upholding academic standards, and supporting students with strong e extracurricular programs. If that's you, you have nothing to worry about with this amendment. You're doing it right, and keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Livia Estrada, speaker number 29, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. again. Okay. Julia, Chartered Parents for Education. administrate translated. Good morning, members of the CPS Board of Education, CEO Martinez. My name is Juvia Estrada and I'm the mother of two students at Aceros Sandra Cisneros. First, I want to thank you for saving my children's school. This last Tuesday, we had our first meeting with CPS where parents' voices were heard, something ACO never did in all these years. However, it is urgent
120to that you approve a new resolution that protects parents and the community from charter schools interests and which guarantees our ability to participate without fear of reprisal. As a mother who has raised her voice to defend our children's education, I've been a victim of intimidation from Aero. On April 16th, they attempted to deny me the right to speak at a meeting despite having registered for it. Thanks to the support from parents for education and the CTU, I was able to express my concerns about the misadministration of Cisneros by principal Alejandra Gutierrez. This experience demonstrates that parents don't have protection. We need your support to continue fighting for the dignified education our children deserved. I trust that we will once again count with your support so that situations like these with Aero do not repeat themselves.
121Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Regina White, speaker number 10. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the board. I come here today as a proud grandparent of a young man who attends Iran Prep Charter School for Young Men. Not only am I a proud grandparent, I am someone who has worked the last 12 years in various programs of educational re-engagement and violence prevention in schools across the city. In my experience, the most common struggle with our young men is the transition into manhood. They struggle not only to understand themselves as they become men, but also what that should look like as an acceptable man and for in society. In some young men, I feel like that creates a sense of pressure that then shows up sometimes as lack of motivations and the struggle
122to believe in themselves. My daughter and I actually started to experience that with my own grandson starting about the age of 12. He attended decent schools. He made good grades actually, but we could see the lack of motivation and the lack of overall self-confidence in him. As a result, we thought a maleled environment might be good for him as he entered high school. Um, when we would talk to him and ask him about his future, his every answer to his questions would be, "I don't know or I don't care." That was very concerning for us. This year, my grandson entered Urban Prep. He is still there, a rising freshman, looking forward to becoming a sophomore yet next year. We have found Urban Prep to be a school that understands the needs of young men. The
123staff at Urban Prep work hard to cultivate and foster an environment to encourage academic excellence and nourish them as a whole as young men. Let's be honest. It takes more than academics to navigate this world. Our young men need emotional intellig intelligence. Please conclude your remarks which at the very least starts with self-confidence. Each day the young men start their school day with community where they together recite the school creed with each line of affirmation starting we believe. I personally have seen the change on my grandson. He is overall more confident and takes pride in himself and school community and ex and is excelling academically like never before. Thank you. Please conclude your remarks. So today, as I believe in the work taking place at Urban Prep, I ask the school board to believe as
124well and renew the charter for them to continue the good work they do building great leaders. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Atel Garza. Speaker number 11 who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. My name is Itel Garza. I'm a lifelong Chicago and an environmental justice organizer at community organization one north side. In the last four months, I've met with parents, students, teachers, and staff from McCutchen, Gail Community Academy, Newfield Elementary, and Sullivan High School in Gley at LSC pack meetings, school pickup and drop off lines, community resource fairs, and in classrooms. Just two weeks ago, we convened a room of 22 people from four different schools to bring school community members together to talk about issues they all similarly face. The problem was clear. Our schools
125are lacking the resources to fund needs as basic as clean water and air. I have heard students and parents express a deep concern about the metallic taste of the water, lack of nutritious meals, and issues with air quality so bad that a child with asthma had to be taken out of school for over a month of accumulated time. So, when we heard that CPS was conducting community engagement sessions to get feedback on the capital budget, we were excited to register. In particular, many of the CPS parents I organized with are monilingual Spanish speakers who were excited to see there was a Spanishonly engagement session on April 17th. What happened at the meeting though was a complete disappointment. The session consisted of one person speaking the entire time off camera flipping through a slideshow. Lemus, a
126parent at Eugene Field and parent mentor at Newfield, who joined me on the call, had her hand raised to ask a question about water and air quality for over 15 minutes. She was never called on or even acknowledged. The questions were both put in the Q&A chat were never addressed. It is absolutely disrespectful CPS to claim to value public comment and not respond to a single sentence in our messages. This is especially disrespectful because this was a Spanishonly session, one of the very few opportunities for monolingual Spanish speakers to get engaged. Based on our experience, we have little confidence in CPS to share these concerns with the board. So, I'm here today to tell you all parents, students, and staff at schools across the north side and across the city of Chicago are demanding CPS
127include a transition to clean energy in the capital budget plan to create cleaner air, student learning opportunities, and savings on energy costs that can be put back into building investments such as water and air filters. No CPS student should have to breathe unhealthy air or drink polluted water. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Iris Galvin, speaker number 13, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Iris Galvin, speaker 13, please enter star six to unmute. Iris Galvin, speaker number 13, please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon. My name is Ian Galban and I am a proud parent of scholars at Row Elementary. I chose Row because it is part of Northwestern Settlement, a place that has been a part of my life for 16 years
128now. Row is more than just a school. It's a community. It's a family. And for me, it is the best choice for my children and my family. But this renewal cycle has brought a lot of uncertainty. The delays in the renewal votes and the short renewal terms have created real instability. It's been difficult to say the least, not just for us as parents, but for our children, our teachers, and the whole school community. We all want what's best for our kids. And as parents, we deserve to have a voice in that. Please don't ignore our right to choose what's best for our children. We are speaking up because we care. Please hear our voices. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Jasmine Brown, speaker number 14. Good afternoon.
129Um, today marks my first fourth time appearing before the board to speak on behalf of my son, Jaylen Green, who was found unresponsive in the lunchroom of John Marshall High School on August the 21st, 2023. Um, to this day, botch slash no investigation, unfounded results, but no one has ever spoken to or gotten any witness statements from all parties involved. Um, I'm also an elective parent representative with the LSC and I have not had the opportunity to attend any in-person meetings due to me being banned from the school by principal pool. I have a diverse learner with an IEP who attends Marshall and to this date this school year. I've missed all open houses, all report card pickups due to this ban. I've had no communication with any teachers or diverse learning personnel even though
130Jaylen is and was failing several classes. June 1st is graduation day. What will be done since I'm banned? I spoke at the board meeting on February 27th where you all rushed and pressured me to submit documentation to follow up on my concerns for a possible resolution and to to this date nothing has been done. It seems to me everyone is passing the buck to see if someone else would do anything first. How about someone take the initiative and say, "Hey, we failed this parent and her child somewhere. We dropped the ball. Let's start fresh from the beginning. Is that too much to ask? Another thing, stop preaching parental involvement, engagement, then get a mother like me where you think you're going to sweep things under the rug. I'm not a doormat. I want everyone here
131to think of your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, etc. who might one day be in a situation as my son was to almost lose his life. You have 30. What if the next generation of future leaders choose to sit back and listen and allow your multiple cries for help and answers to fall on deaf ears and do nothing? Do Don't be where I was to almost lose my son. Just think of your family because your family could be next. Also, Cashasha Ford, Fanny Alvarez, Michael Bores, you get a grade of an F today because you don't know how to do your jobs. Also to Pedro Martinez, these are all your employees, which shows your lack of leadership. In order for change, it has to start at the top. I can't wait till I can't wait till
132you're fired. Have a good day. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Derek Brown, speaker number 15. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Derek Brown and I am a par professional at CICS Wrightwood. I have worked there for 11 years. I love my school and I'm proud to be working there. I am also a proud CTu member, but that wasn't always the case. Before n before 2019, the pair professionals at CI at three CICS schools run were now run by now run by Meridian were not part of any union. In 2018, however, the pair of professionals at CICS Northtown, Ellison, and Wrightwood decided that we also wanted to be part of a union like our colleagues who were teachers. We wanted to say we wanted the same rights and wanted
133to collectively bargain for better pay and working conditions. We organized across three schools and asked asked for voluntary recognition from our employers in in the in that fall of 2018. But our employer refused to recognize us. For months, our demands for recognition was met with was met with either silence or falsehoods. Emails from our employers told us that black was white, up was down, inside was out, and short was long. You have 30 seconds remaining. It was painful. It was a pain. It was painful. What we did was we stood strong and and not before our colleagues as teachers decided to strike and we decided that we might strike to get recognition that we were heard. What we are what we asking the board to do today is that we have a neutrality that if
134other employers or employees want to organize a union, they should have the right to organize and become unified together to serve together for the betterment of our schools and our students. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Lafayette Ford, speaker number 19. Good afternoon um President Harding and all members of uh the board. My name is Lafayette Ford. I'm the vice chair of the board of um Black United Fund of Illinois. We're one of the organizations that was part of a coalition that lobbyed um for two years down state uh to get an elected school board. So congratulations on all of you all who are now serving. A little bit about me. I served both as a parent and community rep uh on LSC's for seven years. I also was elected
135the chair of the schoolboard nominating commission for seven years which helped to pick people for the school board back in the 90s. After that, I was recruited and then worked for the school system for 20 years as a specialist with working with local school councils and community relations. One of the things that we had a problem with for a long time was trying to get the board itself to understand local school councils. And it took us more than 10 years. But if you look at all your board reports that come before you and for the last 25 years, you see there's a little line there that says what did this board report have to do with local school councils. It's either yes or no. A lot of times it's no, but it's important that it's
136done at this level. Such is the information of black student achievement. One of the things that we got passed in our law also dealt with the unutilization of black students at the board and their achievement. Such we would like to see not only the creation of the subcommittee at your level that the law states but also seconds remaining but also to make sure that you codify that in your board proceedings that every time you look at something at the board it has to have something about student achievement in there and it has to be answered whether it's building a building getting a contract or getting a new CEO it is not the level of understanding that is just the chief education officer or the chief executive officer's responsibility. It's your responsibility. That responsibility lies at
137the top. Hopefully in the future you'll be able to put that into action. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is um Charlie Meyers, speaker number 23. This is the last speaker from the speakers list. Good evening, Chicago Board of Ed members of the Chicago Board of Education. My name is Charles Myers and I'm here with my mom, Charlotte Meyers, and we are proud to represent Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School, a school that shaped me as a student and now empowers me as an educator. This evening, I don't come before you to defend a side in a debate. I come to remind us all that ultimately it isn't about systems. It's about the students. Our children don't need us to choose sides. They need us to choose them. Every student in Chicago
138deserves a champion. Someone who sees their potential and fights for their future. Regardless of the name of the school on the school building, whether it's a charter school in Austin or a district school on the south side, we all serve the same mission to uplift, educate, and equip young people to lead the to lead lead lives of purpose. Let's not get stuck in decisions or divisions of the past. Let's focus on what we can build together. New opportunities, stronger partnerships, and deeper investments in our youth. Because when we collaborate, we bridge gaps. When we listen, we learn. And when we lead with love, we create something more p powerful than any label. A city where every child has has the support they need to thrive. Thank you for your time and your continued commitment to
139all Chicago students. Thank you for your comments, President Hardon. We also have an elected official who would like to address the board. Tara Stamps, County Board Commissioner from the first district, who is here in person. Good evening. You all need a soundtrack or something. It um a little music or something. I guess you all are probably very grateful that it's a little less exciting. Um, so as you all know, before I got this wonderful opportunity to serve as the Cook County Commissioner of the First District, I was a classroom teacher for 25 years. And now I serve as the administrator of new teacher development at um the Chicago Teachers Union. And so what I'm here today to do is to invite you all in to this amazing opportunity that is really um it's it's it's
140a it's an event that's put together through we care which is the program that I run that ma um that matches early career educators with veteran educators in their subject matter for the first three years of them being an educator both classroom teachers and clinicians. There's also the opportunity for our pair of professionals to be um building mentors as well so that they have someone who understands the heartbeat of the community to walk them through uh this new terrain. So I'm very excited about the program. But we've also partnered with SCS, sustainable community schools in this effort. And so on May 15th, you are getting the handouts now. I am inviting you all to come in and see what is possible when you invest in young people and you allow them to lead. The day
141of this workshop, summit, expo is called pay attention listening and learning from students. On this day, the young people will be in total control of every workshop, every icebreaker, every session. And we're talking young people from fifth grade through high school that are having this. So you have the handout and a lot of the teachers that came through we care that's um putting this on receive this training through curriculum circles. If you're not familiar with curriculum circles as an educator I can tell you it will revolutionize. It's a strategy. It's a it's a it's a thought. It's a way of practice that basically puts um it grounds the young people's agency, their voice, their lived experience, their curiosity and we build curriculum around that thing. And so young people will be presenting on May 15th
142from everything from stuff that they're just curious about about traffic to, you know, Kendrick Lamar's halftime show, which was pretty dope and had a lot of lessons in it if you understand the standards. Okay, so that's what we have. Again, I'm inviting you all in to Chicago Teachers Union to see and experience this amazing um expo that will be uh presented by our young people, primarily students that are part of the Chicago public school and teachers who teach them, but the teachers are there to just be co-f facilitators in this amazing opportunity of learning. Okay. All right. Thank you for your comments. You're very welcome, President Harden. This concludes public participation. Thank you board members. Are there any questions or comments related to public participation? We will now move into a short recess. President, I'm
143sorry. Apologies. Um I would just like to follow up um with u CPS team. I've gotten multiple concerns about Marshall and um this concern about a local school council member being banned whose child still goes to the school and I I just so I would like to have follow-up conversations about that. Um yeah, think that was it. Thank you, sir. Are there any other comments or questions related to public participation? Uh President Harden. Yes, sir. Uh I just uh I'm sure board staff is already following up, but just uh for the family that spoke from intrinsic about the student um just so we can uh follow up on that one. Thank you. Especially which campus of the two it is. Are there any further comments or questions? This concludes public participation. We'll now move into
144a short recess. Board member Deberry, you have motion mo1. I move that the board take a 30 minute recess. Is there a second? I second the motion. Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. Yes. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. Hi. Member Brown. Yes, ma'am. Member Bannon. Hi. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutieras. I. Member Biggs. Yes. Member Thorakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry I. 20 eyes's zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. This meeting will now go into a 30 minute recess. We'll now proceed with the business portion of the meeting. CO Martin Martinez, we are ready for the presentations. Thank
145you, President Harden. We're going to have uh our chief of talent, uh Ben Fulton, and also our our head of principal quality, Ally, will both present. And since it is getting later in the evening and we have our our talent uh leader here, just wanted him to share with him when it's his birthday today. So do that. Do with that what you will. Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Ben. Happy birthday to you. Hey, thank you very much. Felton, the chief of talent keeping the people melting. This is uh I'm like a thousand% sure I'm about to wake up from a dream. Uh man, thank you guys. You're very kind. Um all right. Hi, I'm Ben Felton. It is my birthday and I am uh the chief talent officer here at
146CPS. Um I'm just looking at the Jim. Are you clicking? Did I get that right? All right. Awesome. So, you know, look, um I am exceptionally proud of the work that we've done in the talent office over the last five or so years. Um I think that we have one of the highest performing and most innovative and comprehensive strategies in the country when it comes to teacher talent. Um, and it also stretches into other areas that we're going to be excited to talk about today. I'm also here with Allison Tingwall, um, who is our fearless leader of the department of principal quality, uh, who and she will talk about some of the work that we're doing around principles. Um, so um, just briefly, our theory of action for the strategic plan. Again, everything we're talking
147about today is an update on our strategic plan. Um, and you know, I'm not going to read the slide, but you know, ultimately we broke our strategic plan into what students need, what every student needs, what every school needs, what the district needs, and what every community needs. Um, and when we do when we our theory of action is that if we meet those needs that every kid in this in this city will have a rigorous, joyful, and equitable student learning experience. Um and that's you know what a hell of a blessing to get up every day and pursue pursue that uh that that endeavor. Um so uh thank you to everybody alongside of me who is doing that work. Um next page, next slide. So it's there's a lot of words on this slide.
148Um um but our theory in talent comes down to every school that and we believe that the school is the unit of change. Um and that um we believe that if every school is creating the conditions and implements the practices that we need, we're going to see continuous improvement through this through this throughout the system. And that that goes for the talent office as well and our talent strategies too. These are the strategies that we've been pursuing for quite some time. I'm confident that they're the right ones because we're seeing the results and we're going to get into that here shortly. Um these are ambitious goals on the right side of this page. Uh we have we in our in the last strategic plan in 2019 uh we had extraordinarily uh ambitious goals around staffing
149around growing our pipeline strategy around um diversity and we hit all of those goals and I'm exceptionally proud of the of the dozens of people in the town office who slave away every day. They make me look good. I get to come up here and get sung happy birthday, but they're the ones who are grinding every day and I'm so exceptionally proud of the people who work on my team. So, you know, I'll just briefly touch on these strategies. The Teach Chicago strategy, which we'll get into, is the strategy that we launched seven, eight years ago at this point, um to build that diverse workforce, to improve staffing levels, to improve outcomes at the hardest to staff schools, um and and the hardest to staff subject areas. Um, we're continuing that work. We're doubling down
150on it. And then we're also thinking about how do we make sure that our employees are well at work, that they have opportunities to take on more leadership opportunities. Um, and we're also thinking about ways that we can insource school support services. We've made important commitments around that in both our SEIU 73 contract, but also the CTU contract that you'll vote on today. Um, and we're going to continue to refine, monitor, and improve our strategies. We we have a retreat next week to look at all of our data and to dive in and see how we're doing. And I'm very confident in the outcomes that we're seeing. Um and then like I said, we have ambitious goals and they're and they're equity focused. So, you know, we we're interested in reducing teacher vacancies. We're interested
151in um we're, you know, dogged in pursuit of improving staffing levels. Um, and we're unafraid and not backing down around our commitments around diversity. Um, and how important representation is in our classrooms. Um, similarly thinking about retention and a lot of other outcomes. So, let's jump into it. So, 2016, um, I was hired to figure out how to get more teachers into the hardest to staff schools. And I did that work for two or three years. We made a lot of progress improving both teacher retention um and uh reducing vacancy rates in what we call the opportunity schools which is some of the hardest to have schools looking at principal at principal sorry at uh board member bigs who I work very closely with on this initiative and others um and you know I'm a
152big believer that if you're going to do important work in a big bureaucracy like CPS you got to get proximate to the people who know the work and I spent fall of 2016. Um, which was a trying time for our country and it's a little deja vu all over again right now. But, um, you know, going on a listening tour, listening to teachers, listening to principles, going to our job fairs, understanding the teacher labor market in Chicago and how we can what what we could do to make that better and make that work better for our schools and our students and our families. I really wanted to seek the truth, if you will. Um, and like I said, I, you know, I'm in community with chief HR and chief county officers of other big school
153districts across the country. We are light years ahead away ahead of them in in the strategies that we've built. And I believe that this ambitious and bold and comprehensive strategy um is serving our kids well. Do we have more work to do? Of course. Uh, is it is are all these strategies working perfectly? No, but is it indisputable that we've made considerable progress? Absolutely. And I'm excited to jump into that. So, just and before I forget um on this slide, a quick shout out to Christine Murphy Judson who's our executive director of teacher of talent acquisition and Felicia Buts who's our executive director of teacher pathways. Both of them have worked tirelessly to build out these strategies over the last they've been with me for the last seven or eight years. Um and we've made
154considerable progress. So the you know ultimately what we heard we heard a lot of needs and and what we ultimately designed was a five tiered strategy to address each of the challenges that we were hearing from the field. One is new teacher residency programs. So our own teacher residency program was 225 teachers. These are teachers who these are 80% of them are former uh are people of color. Um the majority of them are either graduates or parents of CPS. uh and uh also the majority of them are are our own pair of professionals. So teachers assistants, special education classroom assistants, we are bringing them in getting them a full year of training uh in a CPS classroom. We're paying them for that and then they after a year they go and they get an they
155they have a degree to become a uh special education or bilingual or STEM teacher. Um so that's the first leg is the really expanding teacher residency programs. Also with the A USL program, we've we've invested in that relationship and it's one that continues to serve the district well. Teacher residencies are critical for CPS. They're expensive. It's the most expensive way to create a teacher because you have to pay them a salary. But we continue to invest in this because otherwise it's just not feasible for the populations that we want to become teachers to to quit their job and do an unpaid student teacher experience. So we are investing in this. We're doing everything we can to shield as much as we can as we plan for the upcoming uh budget season, but uh the residency
156program has been critical to our efforts and it's been a critical lever to some of the results that I'm about to show you. We've improved our teacher recruitment practices. Part of it is like improved communications. If you've never sat on the other side of a two-way mirror, I encourage you to do so when you listen to people talk about what it's like to go work in CPS and how to find a job. Um, but we invested in our recruiters and they're out there pounding the pavement and really the big piece has been the early offer program. So, you know, we are hiring. We meet teachers in Thanksgiving and December and January and they say, "I'm not moving to Chicago till next year." And I say, "If you're a math teacher or if you're a special
157education teacher, great. We got a job for you. We will figure out in the summer where that job is, but we will commit to you now." That's important because it is more efficient. If I'm a principal with a math vacancy, I can only I can only hire one math teacher. If I'm a if I'm the talent office and I know we're going to have 70 math vacancies, I can hire 70. So, we put them in a pool. We and then we work really hard. So, it's more efficient and it's more equitable because we're sharing those resumes as long as they have the skills and the uh mindsets to work with kids in high need schools. We are those are those are the people who then get socialized with our schools on the south and west
158side because they've committed to working in those communities. So the early offer program al also with like just a lot of improvement technical kind of boring but important improvements in the way we segment candidates, the way we see candidates, the way they come into to Lao and and and our our team then can go uh hunt them frankly and then we work to get them in into an early offer program. Intensive supports for highest need schools. We work with the schools with the highest vacancy rates. We've seen considerable improvements in teacher vacancy rates and teacher retention rates. And what we're also seeing is that principles when they're part of the opportunity school cohort tend to stay longer because they have more stable staff. Um I am not allowed to talk about some research from a
159third party that is going to come out and and validate what some of the things that I'm saying but we're stay tuned for fall. We are really excited about some preliminary results that we're seeing from a third party researcher about the effectiveness of opportunity schools. Next we have defined roles for teacher leadership. I believe that if you want to keep a teacher you got to put them put them in charge of something. It deepens their connection to schools and it's an opportunity to um give them a little bit of compensation and you know it gives more respons you know we we we thoroughly believe in distributed leadership. The principal cannot be the only person leading in a building. So, you know, we've worked to define teacher leadership roles and and we'll get into that in
160a little bit, but we we've heard on on this listening tour where I was seeking the truth. Uh we heard uh that, you know, having these defined teacher leadership roles is critical to keeping excellent teachers. And then lastly, new and diverse teacher pipelines. So, there's two programs that I'm especially proud of. We have a big international program. There's other opportunities, too. But Teach Chicago tomorrow is our strategy to recruit um to recruit our own high school students to become the next generation of CPS teachers. The talent of tomorrow is in our schools right now. Can't be looking somewhere else to find the kids, you know, who who need to be going into ed prep programs. So through Teach Chicago tomorrow with some philanthropic support and some district support we're in a position to support these
161high school kids and they commit to teaching, you know, to being becoming a teacher. We commit to giving them a job when they finish the program and we give them both academic mentoring and financial supports along the way. These are u these are our kids and they're the ones who know what it's like to teach, you know, to teach in in Chadam or in West Garfield Park. Um, so we are relentlessly recruiting them and you will get an email from me tomorrow. Uh, I can only have five of you there, but we we have a graduation ex uh uh we have an induction ceremony uh coming up for them and um you know we we where we celebrate their choice to become a teacher. Um and then there's PETEP. Uh PEP is the pre-ervice teacher
162uh equity project. What we have seen for years in CPS is that the local universities are placing in the in some of the lowest needs communities which is problematic for multiple reasons but including one these are not where the jobs are and secondly they're not getting good reps about teaching on the south side and west side and what we see is that when when kids are you know I call them kids but these 21 22 year olds are exposed to our schools they want to be part of that so we have worked closely uh with local universities to to get more student teachers on the south and west side. And what we find through that early offer program then is the principal goes ahead and says, "I'm not letting Miss, you know, student teacher Smith
163hit the uh hit the uh hit the free agency market. I want to give them an early offer now." And we can start building those relationships already. So PEP is incredibly important. It was funded um entirely by a federal grant. That federal grant was closed by the by the Trump administration. We're extremely disappointed in that. Uh but we I am working to sustain that within the town office budget because it's too important to cut. All right, next slide. Sorry, I'll be I'll be quicker. Um look, I think of this at the end of the day, this boils down to three three buckets. You can create pathways for your teachers, you can recruit them, and you can retain them. And I think of this as like being at a restaurant when you're really hungry. And we
164are really hungry for teacher talent in CPS. We're starving for it. And I think you really have two options. Option one, elbow the person next to you and get a bigger piece of that pie. And we do that. We fight like hell for every single teacher recruit at these job fairs through our websites, etc. But really, there's also a piece of this that you have to grow the pie. And that's what we have done. um you know for for generations um this is the the teacher pathways work is the bed is the bedrock of the strategy and it's um for years CPS was just a passive consumer of teacher talent that local universities was giving us right like you graduate the kids we'll hire them well what we've found over years is that that supply
165is insufficient to meet CPS's needs it doesn't meet our needs from a diversity perspective it doesn't meet our needs from folks who want to work in the highest need schools and it doesn't meet our subject area demands. So instead throughout the through the teacher residency we're graduating like I said about 225 250 this year and they're all either bilingual special education talent teaching in the south and west side 80% are folks of color um and a majority of them are are former CPS parent professionals. So this is the group that we ought to be investing in. Like I said teach Chicago tomorrow is our strategy recruiter on high school students. PAEP is getting more student teachers into the highest need schools and the continued partnerships with AUSL uh who also does this work and and
166has for 25 years is is critical. Also, teacher recruitment, uh, that's getting the bigger piece of that pie. And I I'm I'm shameless about going and, you know, we're gonna out compete every charter school and, well, that example, every parochial school, every uh, suburban district um, to go to go, you know, uh, through an early offer program through more sophisticated segmenting of our talent um, and revamped marketing strategies and we go compete for for the talent that we need. Um, and that includes expanded partnerships with Golden Apple, with Grow Your Own Illinois, who's grown their program remarkably over the last several years with our support, uh, with Teach for America. And then we're in H.B.CU and HSI's now. We have a big presence there. Um, so we're really proud of the recruitment work we do.
167You know, I think of this as one, it's I I I describe it to our recruiters as hand-to-hand combat. It's one conversation at a time about CPS and how important it is to come work at CPS and how great it is to work at CPS. And I think people feel that that uh that enthusiasm from our team. And then we've also expanded international teaching quite a bit. We went from about you know 20 or 15 international teachers when we started teach Chicago to about a hundred or so and they're all special education teachers. So it's increasing a supply of special education teachers that otherwise wouldn't exist and our principles have really positive feedback about them. And then lastly on the retention side, you know, we've expanded teacher mentoring so that there's no more than a
168two to one mentor to mentee relationship and we've centrally funded these,200 or so teacher leadership roles. Uh that's a combination between my work and Chief Milberg's work in the teaching and learning office. Um, and then lastly, like we've worked really closely with the schools with the highest needs to talk to them about tangible strategies that principles can take to recruit their their um to to we call it recruiting your own staff back next year, right? I I'm a former CPS teacher. I know how hard the work is. Um, and you know, we want teacher we want principles to be having those conversations with teachers about what their what they what you know, what their needs are and how we can meet them. And some of it is just as simple as a simple 15 minute
169stay conversation to figure out where you're at and what your plan is for next year. No one asked me that when I was a teacher, right? And so we're trying some best practices around like go have that conversation with that teacher. Go if they want to coach, you know, cheerleading, maybe that's an option. If they want to, you know, they'd rather teach second grade instead of first grade, maybe that's an option. Or if they want, you know, professional development opportunities, that's an option, too. So we're really trying to equip our principles to better uh keep their own staff. And then also we'll talk about the expanded employee wellness strategy as well. But again, you we believe that like we're just not going to be passive consumers of the teachers that the traditional markets are giving
170us. We need to be training our own. So if you go to the next page, you'll see I won't go into I' I've described a lot of these strategies, but Teach Chicago has produced considerable improvements in our staffing levels. This is of course a combination between between budgeting and and the recruitment efforts. Uh but we're up about 3,000 teachers since 2019 and we're really proud of that. Uh up 17% in the number of teachers despite having far fewer kids in that, you know, in that period. Um again, all of these pieces are working in concert uh to make sure that we have a a strong teaching force that more closely resembles the demographic makeup of our students. If you go to the next strategy, this is especially acute with special education. We have more than
1711,300 more sped teachers than we did six years ago. Um the early offer is critical here. The the you know the international teacher piece is critical. Table stakes for us is working working on a partner as in a partnership and a recruitment partnership is that you're giving us special education talent. The residency is generating bilingual special education teachers with any anybody who's a principal or you know in schools knows that those people are unicorns but we're generating a group of them. Um and now we're you know we're also subsidizing the costs of lensure and we've expanded that in the recent agreement with Chicago teachers union. So um and then you know we're also working with our universities very closely. They're great partners um and we're telling them we need you know we're trying to help
172them understand what our needs are so there's a better you're p fitting those puzzle pieces. you're sort of puzzling better um if you if you if you connect the uh the supply and the demand frankly and I'm especially proud of um the work that we've done around bilingual and ESL teachers. So um I mean you'll see how how significant the the improvements are here again with fewer students in the district. Um but again all these strategies work for the highest need populations as well. uh we went from we're you know even since 2020 we're up 34% we have 34% more bilingual teachers than we did in 2020 um and 41% more uh ESL and bilingual teachers. So the most important thing that we can do on this front is generate supply and we do that
173in myriad ways through the residency. We're covering the costs that we're subsidizing the costs of ESL and bilingual endorsements bring utilizing our international teaching program. Teach Chicago tomorrow is critical because we're recruiting bilingual high school kids. Um and and you know so we see that these strategies are actually truly mo moving the needle. And then uh on the next slide, we went from about a third of our teachers being black or Latino in 2019 to half last year. And part of that is because we're able to unlock a different market of people, people who are not in a position to quit their job and do an unpaid student teacher experience. We know that our teachers assistants, our special education classroom assistants, and other employees in the district are disproportionately black and Latino. They're lower paid.
174And so we created these opportunities um through through that pathway strategy, the growing the pie strategy, but also through our recruitment work. Um and we are seeing that the new cohorts of teachers are increasingly black and Latino compared to where they were. Um residency helps a lot on this. If you know it's about a sixth of our teachers come through the residency program and 80% of them are black or Latino, that helps. Uh but the recruitment work is also critical on this front. And then, you know, we're also getting more special uh more pre-ervice teachers into CPS and being really intentional about who they are, uh, and then utilizing our early offer program to grab them before they leave. Um, so yeah, so you can see the numbers here. We've, you know, we're seeing, you
175know, pretty dramatic improvements there. You know, I talked to my colleagues in other cities. There are not other school districts that are making this kind of progress this quickly. And then you start to see how this looks um on the entire teaching force. And look, it that that is moving an ocean liner, right? It's easy to affect one cohort at a time, but we have 30,000 teachers in the system and you know, years 1 through 30 and and beyond. So, um it it will take time, but we're seeing the progress already when we're diversifying our teaching force specifically around black teachers. We've reversed this 25- year trend of fewer and fewer and fewer black teachers in the system. We've stopped that and now we're starting to we stabilized that. And you can see in the
176new teachers, it's a little bit obscured in the data because the cohorts, the older the retirement eligible folks, 34% of all retirement eligible teachers are black or African-American. Uh so, you know, they are aging out of the system. At the same time, our more our new uh cohorts are are becoming more diverse. Um but we have we've we've seen a reversal of that trend down and we're really excited about um some of the other trends that we see with other other other demographics as well. And I would also just point out sorry on that last slide before we move on. CPS has closed the gap between black teacher retention and white teacher retention at 92% each. Uh both lag slightly behind our Latin our Latinx uh teacher retention at 94%. So, you know, a lot
177of these strategies, including having more staff in schools, which we have worked really hard to maintain through, you know, difficult budget cycles, uh, you know, as a teacher, I get it. Like when you have more teachers in the school, you know, everybody shares the workload a little bit more. And so, um, that's been critical as well, just in these retention numbers. But what we're seeing is both same school retention and district-wide retention are higher than they've ever been. uh if you go back 25 years the numbers were a you know two you know a third worse than this um so there's much more stability I think part of that's budget but I also think a lot of that is our talent strategy we're recruiting people and developing people who want to be part of CPS
178and not just for a year or two but they want to spend their careers in this district and then in 2023 we really looked at our what we call teachers lead Chicago. Um, we believe in a distributed leadership strategy. Um, and you know, Teachers Lead Chicago is is this first of its kind strategy to try to create formalized teacher recruit teacher leadership roles within schools that are stipended. Um, and we've created,00 formalized teacher leadership roles. They're more diverse than the rest of CPS population. Uh, and what we're seeing is that like I said, when you put people in charge of things, they're more likely to stay. um and they not only is the you know narrowly from the retention perspective I'm very excited about that but we also know that they're playing a bigger role
179in helping principles through a distributed leadership strategy actually leave the school so um you know retention rates are up we think they're deepening their impact in schools there's ways that we're measuring that right now we're trying to get a little bit more sophisticated in that and we're redefining some of this partially because of budget constraints but also partially we've learned some lessons so uh the teaching and learning office and I are working very closely together on that Um the mentorship though is the thing that's really exciting. We see that when new teachers get mentors, they are more likely to stay. Um 78% versus 74%. That's over three years. That's a huge sample size when you think of the cohorts of CPS teachers. There's 16 17800 of them a year. So we're seeing a meaningful sizable
180difference in teacher retention when they get mentored. And then you know a lot of this is done philanthropically. Um, and shout out to Ria Mtha on my team and Angela Sims in the in the um, teaching and learning department. Um, but we're also investing. Look, like the talent office, we know that if we're going to the next generation of district leaders also has to has to come from within our ranks and we believe in developing a deep and diverse bench of talent uh, and we want them to be the next generation of CPS leaders. So we've developed a comprehensive employee leadership development strategy for central office employees that includes both training like development through leadership cohort style development cohorts and then mentorship. I was a mentor last year and it was like one of the
181most rewarding experiences of my professional career here. Um shout out to my mentee. Um and so you know we are starting to see that the folks who are engaging in these programs are more likely to be be promoted. They're more likely to be employees of color. Um and we've seen uh that they're more likely to stay when they're getting you know my own story I you know I was a junior employee in this place in 2011 2012 and I I left because I didn't see a pathway for my career to develop at CPS I had to come back uh to to get another opportunity if if I had had the opportunity to stay to get development reps to get mentorship to get professional learning you know there's far more likely and and see and see
182a career path for myself it's far more likely that I would have stuck around through that whole time. It worked out for me, but I know we lose a lot of good talent because people just can't see, you know, if if your manager is not leaving, then there's, you know, there might not be an opportunity for you to get an opportunity to get promoted. And what we're seeing through through lead with CPS is that we're developing those reps and that people are taking they're hungry for them and they're taking advantage of them. And then lastly, like I said, as a former CPS teacher, like I know how hard the work is. Um, and I'm acutely aware of the challenges that our teachers face every day in in communities. And um, in order to best serve
183our staff or I'm sorry, our students, our staff needs to be well. And what we saw coming out of the pandemic was uh, a lot of burnout and um, you know, through different metrics and we've tried to measure that. But we've launched a comprehensive employee wellness strategy here. Um, and we're seeking to improve employees wellness and and I'm a big believer like that this isn't just like, you know, kind of touchyfey kind of yoga on the weekends like like we are providing like really good both expansion of benefits to our staff. Um, and part of that was through CTU negotiations, but also a dramatic expansion of wellness programming and our and and you know, I was kind of overwhelmed by how many of our employees are taking us up on this wellness opportunities. uh about
18410% of our staff have already gone to these webinars. We have wellness champions on the ground who are who are teachers and they're making their staff aware of the different wellness offerings that we have. And this this summer we're going to be launching an app um that the board approved in December uh that will help our employees better. They'll put in information into an app into an app and it will help them find the best both health insurance and then also wellness opportunities for them which like we've seen from other districts like Indianapolis and others has been just a gamecher for them. It lowers costs and it improves employee wellness and so we're really excited about that initiative as part of our broader be well opportunity. Um you know so again like retention is creeping
185up. We think that this wellness work is part of that. Um, and we're confident that like some of these innovative approaches to the way that we think about employee wellness will will continue to pay it pay off as we move forward. Um, all right. I will turn it over to my colleague Allison Tinwell. Thank you. Good evening board members. It's not my birthday, but I've got one for you. Happy Tremendous Talent Thursday. I'm Allison Tingwall. I have the joyful priv privilege of serving as the executive director of principal quality. Uh in close alignment as you can see in this slide with our together we rise priority for exceptional diverse talent. Our mission in department of principal quality is to identify, develop, support and retain strong school leaders who are dedicated to student success in CPS.
186As described in the theory of action strategies shared by Chief Felton, we're doing this by investing in professional development and expanding leadership opportunities. This department and its mission existed long before I came into the role because of our district's longstanding understanding that the most effective driver of continuous improvement and growth in instructional practices and student outcomes in a school is an effective principle. For the past two decades, research has expanded on a landmark 2004 study from Kenneth Lewood and his colleagues that said, quote, "School leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school related factors that contribute to what students learn at school. In fact, a 2021 analysis of two decades of data conducted by Jason Gryom and colleagues finds that the undeniable and measurable impact of principles has likely been understated with impacts
187being quote both greater and broader than previously believed because as we all know and understand, principles also affect teacher retention, teacher satisfaction, student attendance, and student discipline practices. It is clear that the investment in our school leaders is an investment in the success of our students. The decades of ongoing investment and partnerships that CPS has prioritized ensure our school leaders are wellprepared and well supported. It's been a strategic move and positions our work and our district as a national leader. Next slide, please. Oh, I'm sorry. Can we go back one more? Keep going. Sorry, this where I thought we were. Okay. When I So, when I entered the role about four years ago, uh the department was small and the developmental supports were targeted, but they were limited and only serving a select group of
188aspiring and city leaders. Next slide. So, through that strategic investment I mentioned, um an alignment with together we rise along with a clear vision from our CEO and CEDO and the opportunity to build out an amazing team and principal quality. We've expanded the developmental opportunities offered to sitting and aspiring school leaders. And we've done so in a way that intentionally increases access and opportunity. As John A. Powell's graphic for targeted universalism shows here, our goal is to provide supports that allow for individualized pathways to school leader readiness or enroll effectiveness. This maps on to the diverse needs and goals of our school leadership talent pool. Effective approaches to equity for students are also effective approaches to equity for staff and for leaders. Next slide. So to put that transformation into words, DPQ aims to support
189the range of school leadership talent from aspiring to retiring as we like to say. That aspiring pool is when we dip into the teacher leadership that Chief Felton and his team have developed. And I do want to point out specifically that our district's investment in those teacher leadership roles like lead coaches and interventionists has been a key strategic move in allowing us to identify who principles see as that talent in their buildings. It's been a really important recruiting strategy for our work. As a graphic on the previous slide demonstrated, while we use the concept of a pipeline to describe the entire portfolio of opportunities DPQ provides, we no longer think of leadership as a purely linear pathway. We believe setting up programs for nonlinear engagement allows for more individualized development and therefore greater access. Thus,
190we've built our strategy um through priority areas of targeted universalism, stakeholder engagement, and the organized use of data. The aims that come from this, as shown here on the next slide, are to have strong school leadership such that the unique, aspiring, and sitting school leaders in our 500 plus schools are prepared with the skills and dispositions to meet the needs of our students, families, schools, and communities across Chicago. As you all know, we are the only district in the country with local school councils. The principal ship in Chicago is unlike any other. Our principles have uniquely high amounts of autonomy in hiring, budgeting, and leading their communities in curricular and programmatic decision-making. The CPS principal seat is uniquely complex, demanding, and impactful. Nonetheless, through our developmental opportunities and other efforts, we aim to support the
191conditions around school leadership that increase stability, particularly knowing that research shows principal transition often leads to a downturn in student achievement. In DPQ, our biggest lever for supporting strong and stable school leadership is to provide sufficient and relevant learning opportunities such that every school leader in CPS can find meaningful learning with our office. Next slide. Um, now I want to walk you through some of the key metrics that we monitor that relate to these objectives. Um, first and foremost through our thinking about retention strategies, we're looking at average tenure. So this is the average tenure of principles in the role. So, it includes all years they've served as a principal across any school they served in. And as you can see, since the pandemic, we are rebounding and moving in the right direction. And we
192are anticipating that um as this number ticks up through the end of the year, that we'll be back um on par with prepandemic levels. Next slide. We're particularly proud though when we look at average tenure principles at their current school. So, if we only count who's sitting in schools now and what their average tenure is in that building, as you can see, we are more than a year above the average tenure. When you look at the national average in public schools, the national average in city schools and the Illinois average. Next slide, please. Similarly, we monitor the transition rate. As I said, school stability is important to student success. While the end ofear percentage here will tick up a little bit through June 30th, you can see in this graph that we are on track
193this year for one of the lowest, if not the lowest, principal transition rate in the past decade. Next slide. Similar to talent, we also believe it's important that our students see adults in front of them who look like them, who have lived experiences similar to theirs, and who understand the communities we serve. Um, so we also monitor racial and ethnic demographic data. And here you can see our newer principles, so specifically those with two years or less enroll um, who are most likely to have been engaged in these new practices in our our office are more likely to be Latino, Latina, or Latina, um, but less likely to be white or black when compared with the overall pool of sitting current principles. As a point of comparison, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that
194the national race and ethnicity of principles in city districts is 61.1% white, 15.5% Hispanic, and 18.5% black African-American. Um, so again, this is another exceptional area of talent where we far outpace uh national trends. If we look at assistant principal race and ethnicity uh relative to tenure, we also see that our newer APS are more likely to be black and Latino, Latina, and Latina when compared with the overall pool of AP in the district. Um, and proud that over 80% of our assistant principles identify as people of color. Next slide. The Chicago Leadership Collaborative is one of our cornerstone aspiring programs um for aspiring principles. Uh this is where our resident principal program comes into play among other opportunities. Um and as Chief Felton noted, we do make a sizable investment here, but again, we
195have data and outside evaluations to show we get a return on investment by preparing um these uh aspiring school leaders who get hands-on experience, coaching, and mentorship in our schools. In this program, we partner with National Lewis University, New Leaders, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Um, and with their support and collaboration, we began implementing a new structure to increase access and opportunity in this program. And as you can see, this year, 85% of our participants identify as people of color compared to 67% 3 years ago. Finally, for our sitting school leaders, again, we really aim to make sure we're providing opportunities that are engaging for them. Um, of course, all of our school leaders, their primary um structure for support and learning comes through their network and our office of network support. Um,
196they have monthly meetings, they get coach, they get feedback, learning development plans with their um network chiefs and deputy chiefs. And then we aim to provide additional professional learning structures and spaces aligned to the school leadership framework against which they're evaluated and they set goals. Um we complement the network leaders and we also try to meet more targeted developmental needs. So far this year, I'm proud to say we've engaged 1,352 sitting school leader participants. That's not unique participants, but um school leaders signing up and fulfilling seats even if they sign up for more than one program. Um, this also includes our year-long institutes for early tenure leaders, our opt-in PDS, and our pushin offerings when we go into networks to support them with specific goals. The majority of our participation, 935 of those 1352 participants
197come from opt-in. So, these are principles choosing to attend the learning we're providing. Next slide. This graph simply shows our growth. It is our sort of big wild goal that by the end of our next three-year plan, every single school leader, principal, and assistant principal is choosing a a professional development with us that they find meaningful. Um, and so we're on pace here um with over 1500 fulfilled enrollments by the end of the year. And lastly, of course, like any good teachers and educators do, we monitor our exit slip data. Um, so we have about ex 86% completion of exit slips. And as you see here, it's a resounding sort of yes that people would recommend the learning we provide and that they find our sessions responsive to their professional learning needs. We take great
198pride in that work. Uh we thank you for listening and Chief Elton and I are open to any questions you have. I want to I want to thank you guys for that very comprehensive presentation. As you may know, uh, a lot of this exciting data that you're presenting about principles and new teachers is not often what the perception is, uh, when we go and speak to community, but it definitely tracks with the excellence that I've seen in many of the schools I visited. So my question is for example one of the great schools that I visited where I I saw this work in action was uh principal white at O'Keefe in Southshore that was a turnaround a US school a a USL school uh and when I visited she had uh aspiring principles doing a
199walkth through in the school. uh they they they were turning out teachers and training teachers in the school. And because that school is in an underserved community like Southshore, uh Principal White gets first pick of a lot of teachers that choose to that that will be Golden Apple teachers that choose to serve in communities like Chadam and Southshore. Uh my question is uh what are you all doing to ensure that other schools that could be perceived as underserved get those opportunities to train teachers to do walkthroughs and and have that same opportunity as O'kee. So on the teacher front um excellent question. So you know some of the programs that I talked about the residency to our own teacher residency is is you know um we have we are only selecting residency sites that are
200in high you know higher need communities. So they're training in the you know in higher need schools. That's the you know that 225 number that we have this year. Um the A USL program also you know like I said table stakes for doing business with us whether you're Golden Apple Teach for America grow your own AUSL is that you are training in the highest need schools because that's where we want you being hired and then the Pstep program that I also talked about like we have moved I wish I had the data hand like off the top of my head but it's something like we have like 25% more student teacher placements in the south and west side than we did five years ago uh because we are doing the perk of like can you
201know like it's kind of the match.com or maybe the Jenzers would call it like Hinge or something. I don't know. But uh like I've been told by my team that match.com isn't cool anymore. Um sorry match.com marketing folks. Um but like no we're trying to connect you know universities who've long told us like we'd like to place more folks in. So, so it's either through our programs where we're, you know, creating these opportunities or we're working with the local universities and as great as our programs are and as big as they've gotten, we're the CPS teacher residency program is the largest teacher prep program by cohort in the state. Um, so but as big as those are, we looked around and said, look, under any circumstance, 80s something percent of our student of our new
202hires are going to be student teachers. So, we need through Peaceep, we're getting them in the higher need schools. So, you know, look, I at my core, I'm an incrementalist, especially in a system this big. We need to get 5 10 15% better every year at at these metrics. And so, this is the first time that CPS has been tracking where our student teachers are teaching. And what we're seeing is a considerable uptick uh in that they're that they're training in the highest need schools because otherwise, you know, either you're not going to you're not going to get a job or you're not going to be prepar prepared for some of the jobs that you are going to get. And so, that's why we need them to get reps in the highest need schools. And
203a lot of times for people it's just like, you know, it demystifies it de it there's this idea that like, you know, if I'm teaching on the south side that I'm not safe or that like there's I'm not going to have a good experience. And what we have seen through all of our recruitment efforts is that when we get teachers in the door, they love what they're seeing in our schools, which isn't like like I said, do we are these strategies, you know, universally working at all times? Are they perfect? Of course not. And do we still have progress to make? Yes. But are they are they demonstrating results? Absolutely. So, we're right with they're with you. We want more teacher residency trained programs. We want more student teacher pres-ervice teacher placements in highest need
204schools. Um, and that's partial and also we want to recruit our own kids who are going to these schools. Yeah. Or member Pope microphone. Oh, I turned it off instead of on. Sorry. Uh thanks for the uh very comprehensive report. I have to speak a little bit from experience having uh retired from a southside high school. We had very few student teachers and that was an unfortunate thing. So, I'm very glad to hear that more student teachers are teaching in underserved communities in high need schools because I do agree that if someone is doing their student teaching at Walter Payton, it's not going to prepare them to teach on the west side or the south side. It's just not. The other thing I'm concerned about, and maybe you don't necessarily have the answers right now,
205but what kind of correlation I know you do principal evaluations. What kind of correlation is there between principal evaluation and teacher retention in schools? Because in my experience, I've noticed patterns of certain schools, regardless of neighborhood or opportunity index score or anything where there's very high retention and a tremendous loyalty on the part of the faculty at a school and other schools where 30% of the school routinely turns over every year. And I guess I'm very happy to hear the recruitment stuff, but retention is extremely important because we all know that even teachers who have a so-called gift for teaching, it takes several years to really develop your skills and to understand your interactions with students and to do the kinds of things that uh the national board teachers were talking about in terms of
206reflective practice. you don't come into your first year of teaching with all of that. So, those are some of my questions for the future answers. Thank you, board member Pope, and um but Ben might have some more specific responses to this. Um but you're hitting on exactly what I mentioned in my remarks where the effects of a strong principle play out in more than just student outcomes. They also impact the teachers experience in a school. And what I wanted to point out is one of the endeavors that DBQ took on early in my tenure in this office was redoing the competencies against which school leaders set their goals and are evaluated. And if you look at that framework, domain four, the the one of the four domains we have is talent. That's what it's titled.
207And the three um skills competencies that are under that are all about creating cultures of strong collaboration, cultures of support for teachers. Um, and so while I can't speak to specific numbers, I can say it's part of the conversations and goals that principles set with their supervisors in terms of how they're creating strong systems of talent within their buildings. Um, and then I'd invite Ben up here if he wants to say any more about um, retention across our district. Yeah, I you board member Pope, I think you and I were talking about this just last night. uh like I I don't have the the correlation data off the top of my head but 100 I mean look people don't change jobs they change bosses and that's true in teaching too uh it's it's just that's
208whether you're a vice president in a bank or you're a you know or you're a teacher like if you do not have confidence in your manager you are not going to stick around and so that's why we started opportunity schools our the first thing we did was we started recruiting like crazy for these schools second thing we did though was we started intensively training principles to like do take these like critical actions and you know I can't speak to the correlation off the top of my head about the valuation versus not but certainly what we see in our data is that there are schools in you know underserved neighborhoods and some of them have perfect damn near perfect uh teacher retention rates and some of them have very high turnover and so we we we
209try to work very closely with ONS to identify schools that have you know significant turnover and and try to continue to provide vide additional supports and training for principles because look we think a part of a big part of a principal's job is is keeping your staff and the way we talk about it is recruit your own staff back next year. So that that abs anecdotally anyway board member Pope that absolutely tracks what we're seeing. Thanks board member Rivas. Uh thank you Mr. President. Um I might contradict myself and the statements I'm going to make but you'll get it. You'll understand. Um so first off uh thank you so much for all of this uh really great information. Uh it's very encouraging to see the amount of diversity that we're getting uh with our teachers,
210but also more importantly, I think, uh with our leadership. Um I think it's really important to have a leader of color. I I was very lucky growing up that the principles I had at LOL Elementary uh were Puerto Ricans representing our Puerto Rican neighborhood, which was really amazing. Um, and just um during a uh AP appreciation week, I was able to uh be at at an AP happy hour with that the fund put on, which was really awesome to see the diversity that was there in that room. Um, because I really do believe it makes a huge difference, especially with our Latino families to be able to speak to a school leader who speaks their language. Um, one of the things that I I do want to see more of, uh, and hoping, you know,
211what are the strategies around increasing the Latino population of our school leaders and the Latino population of our teachers. So we are 50% of the students of the Chicago public schools. Of our 325,000 students, more than 50% of them are Latinos representing from all over. And we know that the increase uh I was just at Cameron Elementary School for Earth Day on Tuesday. Um I was with a kindergarten classroom uh who had a substitute who did not speak Spanish. And that classroom was mostly migrant students who do not speak English. Um but it was a really awesome opportunity to see um how happy they were to to be here. And so just wanted to think about, you know, what are we doing to increase especially Latino participation in our uh pipeline programs, ensuring that we're
212getting more Latinos in teaching roles, more Latinos in um in leadership roles. Um and then also if you could talk about just what are some of the partner you you touched on it a little bit you know uh Teach for America some of these other partners what what are you doing with like the fund to ensure that we're having more opportunities for growth and support for our our leaders and teachers. Thanks. Yeah, I'll start and I think this might be another one where it backwards maps nicely down to to Ben and talent. um partnerships is what it's been all all about. And that was part of why we called out this um the two-year data of the newer principles because we're starting um in DPQ to feel like we found some movement there, but we
213know there's still a long way to go. Um we I would give a special shout out to our partnerships with Nah, the network of Hispanic Administrators and Educators to Latino Leadership Pipeline. um our United Black Male Educators. There's a lot of awesome professional groups around Chicago where these leaders already exist and working with them to understand what's been successful in their organizations and how we can help recruit together has been very helpful. Um also leaning on them for mentorship. We know for aspiring leaders of color, being able to have mentorship and coaching from someone who looks like them, who may be going through um some of the same experiences of what it means to be a leader of color, either in a community of color or not, um is really important. And so we also
214have great partnerships um with the fund with UIC and Teach for America's Aspire program with new leaders where we're intentionally setting up structures where leaders of color are getting um year-long coaching and mentorship from someone who has served in the role and looks like them. Um and then the last thing I'll mention is we've built our own spaces for leaders of color through our DPQ event series and affinity groups um where they can come together in community across uh the district. And this year, I'm proud to say our affinity um groups welcomed 350 participants. Uh but what we also know is this growth that we've seen is also contingent on the talent pool continuing to grow below us. Right? If we're going to continue to elevate leaders of color, we need teachers of color to
215continue coming into the pipeline. It's like we've been radio partners. Um yeah, all of these strategies are designed with that in mind. Uh specifically, um I would say the residency, you know, because we're trying to generate a supply of bilingual teachers. Those folks are disproportionately Latino. Um so, uh but the residency is pushing throughund, you know, up till now about 150 or so bilingual teachers annually. The majority of them are Spanish speaking. Um, teach Chicago Maro is a big deal on this front because we're going into black and Latino neighborhoods and and recruiting really hard the high school kids and we're supporting them through the, you know, through the education prep programs, through academic supports, mentoring supports, um, and financial supports as well. Um, and then, you know, we're also much more sophisticated in our
216recruitment efforts and and um, you know, we segment our populations based on what we're looking for and and we do, you know, we we utilize the early offer program very intentionally on that front. And, you know, um, and then also part of it, you know, it's international teachers. It's if we're, you know, it's like I said, it's table stakes for us. Don't come to me, Golden Apple, grow your own, teach for America, USL, if you're not giving us diversity. if you're not giving us folks in high need subject areas, if you're not giving us folks in high need schools, like we're just that's that's part of the KPIs that we have in these contracts, but you know, it's a shared goal. So, it's not like we have to twist arms, right? So, you know, we
217are seeing all of these strategies are are resulting in more teachers of color and specifically with Latinos. We've we went from 18.1% of our new teachers being being Latino in um 2019 to 29% this past year. So in in five years we want, you know, one out of every two one out of every 10 teachers, there's an extra Latino teacher in that group. Um, and you know, so again, like I I have a lot of confidence that these strategies are working. And then for Latino, like I said, 90 our retention rates for Latino teachers are 94%. It's the highest in the district. So we're also keeping them. So you know, part of that is our mentoring program because we see most attrition is in the early stages. We try to be very intentional about matching
218mentors and mentees. There is research that shows that same race mentor mentee relationships are really powerful and I do think you know like you know like Allison said 80% of APS you know most of our principles correct me if I'm wrong but most of our principles will come from the AP role and so what you are seeing now is it's a longitudinal thing that if we get more diversity in the teaching segment and there will be more under the AP and principal ship so you know these strategies are working and and you know we're continued to be committed to them you know regardless of what's going on in Washington or you So, um, you know, we're committed to these strategies. Thank you very much. Board member Gopez. Thank you, President. Just was wondering for the
219principal race on in page 23. I didn't see a number for the Asian-American. I was just wondering if you knew what the number is. I'd have to look at the slide and do the math, but it's okay. Um, I apologize. I think when the graphic got created, the font size got squeezed out, but it would be whatever number is missing if you subtract from 100 when you add up the rest. Okay. Thank you. And um the reason I'm just curious to see given that uh we do have at least in my district I'm looking at 6% Asian-American student body in the seven district. Um and of course the Latino students being the largest with about 83%. Uh and based on my conversations with some of the principles during my school visits, it's um you know,
220they've mentioned the importance of having teachers that rep their representation of the students in the classroom. Um and I think what uh board member Rias mentioned that it's important also the culture culture and that experience. Um, it reminds me of a conversation that I had with uh with the principal at Kelly High School in Brighton Park where we had a conversation of difficult um sometimes with the parents especially with first generation students going off to college where um it becomes more difficult because it's letting the parents understand the importance of for a student to pursue moving away from the city or the state especially for their young daughters and it's you know the principal understood the cultural context of it and having those conversations ations. Um, you know, so I think it's important for the
221body of students that we serve and the families. Thank you for emphasizing that. One of the affinity groups that was started this year through DPQ was for Asian-American and Middle Eastern school leaders. And so I'd love to just seize opportunity to give a shout out to Assistant Principal Connie Lee and Assistant Principal Amit Thaker who facilitated those groups for our aspiring Asian-American Middle Eastern leaders this year. Board member Brown. Thank you, uh, Mr. President. Um, thank you all for the presentation. I'm I'm It's exciting to see the numbers going up. Um, as you know, it's an issue that, you know, I care deeply about. I'm a little concerned um with the othering of black and Latino teachers. What I mean by that is um we tend to lump us in a group say people of
222color Right. And it reminds me of how on college campuses in the 1990s and particularly around the the rise of afroentricity, you saw black student unions become more politicized and then an effort around the country to start eliminating black student unions and creating multicultural student unions. And I think uh uh the reason for the uh as as board member Reevas said the there's a there's a shortage of Latin Latin teachers, but the reasoning is different than for the shortage of black teachers. And so I I don't know you all's thoughts on that, but it it it just um you know, it's just like you know, we're called minorities, but we're really not. You know what I mean? we're really not minorities when you think globally. And so I I just think um that worries me
223a little bit and I just wanted to get your feedback. Yeah. So I think it's a very valid point. Um and so specifically give you one example. Uh, in the 2019 strategic plan, we said we would recruit 3,000 black and Latino and we s we surpassed that goal and now our our number is 1500 black and 1500 Latino because we wanted to hold ourselves accountable for actually the black teacher number. Um, so part of it and look like it, you know, maybe this is my own management philosophy here, but like we through the residency, through Teach Chicago tomorrow, through all of the pathway work, through our recruitment efforts, we are carefully monitoring the number of black teachers. Um, and also carefully monitoring the retention of black teachers. um part, you know, we could, you know,
224I could get into I could spend hours and would love to uh talking about the work that we are doing specifically to recruit black teachers, but I do think you're right and I think CPS has been guilty of this and I think we made this error in the last strategic plan where we were kind of lumping different, you know, communities of color together. And frankly, we had a lot more success with our Latin Latin uh our Latinx, you know, recruitment and retention efforts than our black teacher recruitment and retention efforts. And when our team gets together and does these deep data dives that that it leads to the question of so actually how do we support the black the black teacher population, whether that's through retention, whether that's through affinity, whether that's through leadership opportunities,
225whether that's through pipeline opportunities. So, um, yeah, I I think it's a I think just please know that at least in the talent office, and I'm I'm sure Allison and her team are aware of this too, you know, we're acutely aware of that tendency. Um, and you know, really trying to hold ourselves accountable to not only the numbers, but really the strategies to make sure that we're moving the needle uh to segment these groups because yeah, the both of these populations are, you know, are are critical to our students. I would just add very quickly one of the things I know in in my non my nonprofit world uh we reject the term bipac right um because I think it's part of that same effort so it it it may be and again this is
226your field of expertise and not mine this is just you know my layman observation um I think one thing that our communities lack especially uh you know in a society that does not embrace us as it should is is the right to self-determination, right? The the right to define name and speak for ourselves instead of being defined name and spoken for by others. And so I think in a district that uh is focused on equity that should be central to our efforts, right? Providing that space so that uh our interventions can to the to the naked eye and to the result um be targeted toward the needs of that constituency. So not, you know, again, I appreciate you all the presentation and the feedback. Board member Biggs. Yeah. Um, as someone who's had the great
227pleasure to work, I mean, very directly with with both of your streams of work, I really want to say thank you. Um, you know, I had a chance to start my leadership journey in CPS through the Chicago Leadership Collaborative. I became a principal after having a year to learn as a resident to study under a principal in a community that I then became a principal in. Um was the best learning and preparation I think I possibly could have had. So I'm very thankful to have had that experience. I'm thankful to have been able to support um six teacher leaders um at my school through various CLC programs over the course of my tenure and they're serving in leadership capacities throughout the district at this point. um very proud of that and thankful for the opportunity
228that they could do that. And I think um Ben, you were just starting the opportunity schools work in my last two years as a principal. And I can tell you I I think it was the last year that we were actually calling it the opportunity schools work. And that was the first summer that I ever walked into as a school leader, having hired my entire staff before that summer break, which really um would have allowed us to do some really important professional development work. So the work you guys are doing is really important and fantastic for the district. So thank you and keep it up. PP Bautista. Um yeah, a really quick question. you know, we just uh went through our 5x5s and we learned that, you know, CPS is approaching this financial cliff and
229um really concerned about that. And I mean, in the presentations that we sat through, um it was, you know, it wasn't said, but it looked like, you know, we're going to be forced to do like hiring freezes or um you know, reducing the the staffing budget. What do you think that that is how that is going to impact all of your efforts? You know, um has have you been talking about that? I mean, I feel like that is like um we're going to have this report next year and like are we going to be able to see improvements given uh the situation that we are in financially? Yeah, I mean we've as a leadership team, we've been we've worked really hard to try to sustain these investments, right? And like I feel um like a
230broken record continuing to talk about like how important it is to try to sustain the, you know, the amount of staffing improvements that we've made over the past five years. Um but yeah, I mean, you know, like when there's a, you know, major budget deficit, like there are hard decisions that have to be made. I think um I think the strategies that we're pursuing work whether you've got, you know, a massive increase in staffing like we've seen over the past five years and they also work in leaner times. So I I, you know, I think the strategies are the right ones. um you know and um at least on the talent side I think the pipelining work in continues to be critical um the recruitment work continues to be critical we've got teacher vacancies we
231will relentlessly pursue the ones that we've got um and you know every year in a system as large as ours you're going to have attrition like you know the 6% attrition that we see is you know trying to do some back of the envelope math in my head but it's you know it's hundreds and hundreds of teachers that we need to replace every year so the the strategy these are the right ones I think um you know but maintaining staffing levels will require additional revenue and and that's there's you know no one has any disillusions about that so you know whether that's through the city whether that's through the state whether that's through the feds um it's going to be critical for us to be able to do everything that we can to demand more
232revenue for CPS so we can sustain a lot of the growth that we've seen over the past couple of years and that also goes for some of the central office citywide programmatic pieces too. You know, we want to we want to sustain the size of the teacher residency, but it's a you know, it's it's it's an expensive program. And so, you know, in order to do that, you know, we're going to need to be able to sustain the town office budget. So, um, you know, look, I every budget decision is a is is difficult and their value statements and, you know, I've been very blessed to work under leadership that believes that like the talent piece is very important. It's clear that this board feels the same way. Um, and so, you know, look, it
233comes down to either, you know, additional revenue for this for this school district to be able to sustain it or having to, you know, consider painful choices and painful cuts. And that's what all of us in leadership are are working to do to try to like make our operations as efficient as humanly possible so we don't have to cut deeper than we than is absolutely necessary. Um would the CEO like to weigh in on that? I don't know if that's something there there's nothing else really I can add. I mean it really is a revenue issue. I am not. Um I think there's more risks especially um you know we're going to be we're going to be in Springfield and we're going to have students there. We're going to have you know we're going to
234have a you know a good coalition but the reality is that you know we've been leadership has been been very clear with us from the very beginning of the session. The downside at the state side is actually a there's the risk is more on the downside. Uh if if the federal government cuts Medicaid uh that's a billion dollar hole for the state. And so I know from good sources there there was a consideration at one point not to put any money of education in in the state budget. And so I think not to mention the the complicated relationships that exist between the city and the state which has not helped us. Um I'm not optimistic there. And so I think again it goes back to the conversations around local revenues around tiffs what president and
235I have talked about um really having conversations with city council about that. So again, it's going to keep coming down to that. Thank you both for the incredible work that you're doing. We appreciate all you're doing for the district. Board board members will open the floor for questions or comments on items related to the public agenda. I'd like to note the following public agenda item RS4 resolution announcing the board search for its new chief executive offer superintendent will be a separate vote. So you can provide your questions and comments for this item when that item comes up for vote. For now, if there are any comments or questions relative to public agenda items, or there any reports that you wish to be moved from the consent agenda as a separate vote, over Miss Cole. Um,
236yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I wish to have RS3 pulled from for an individual vote. I second that motion. You have that noted, Susan? Yeah, I haven't noted. Sorry. We'll now proceed with the vote in the public agenda items. Board secretary, please proceed. Thank you, President Harden. I will uh proceed with the items on the public agenda, read the board report numbers, and brief titles. I believe board member Blae has motion MO2 regarding record of proceedings. I move that the excuse me record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of March 5th, 2025 and board meeting of March 20th, 2025 prepared by the board secretary be approved and that such recordings of proceedings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with section 2.06B 06B of the Open Meetings Act.
237Is there a second? I second the motion. Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. I. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes, ma'am. Member Bannon. Hi. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. I. Member Biggs. Yes. Member Thorakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry. I. 20 eyes, zero nazs. This motion is adopted by the board. President Hard, I'll continue with a resolution that does not require a vote. RS1 resolution Ray, National Board Certified Teachers Recognition, National Board Certified Teachers, Class of 2024 and 2024 renewed National Board Certified Teachers. President Harden, this item just needs to be accepted by the board. Please mark received
238a file. President Harden, I will continue with items that do require a vote. As you noted earlier, separate votes will be taken at the end of all consent agenda votes. RS2 resolution adopting the amended annual school budget for fiscal year 2025. and President Harden. This amended 2025 budget adds 139 $39 million of revenue in additional tiff surplus dollars from the city of Chicago to cover the appropriation for expenses in the pending collective bargaining agreements with the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Principles Administrators Association. I'll continue with RS5 resolution codifying the creation of Black Student Achievement Committee and appointing Aaron G2 Brown as chair. RS7 resolution authorize appointment of members to LSC's to fill vacancies. P1 authorize the commencement of the public comment period for the amendment of the commercial activity policy. PO2 amend final
239comprehensive non-discrimination harassment and retaliation policy. President hard in this amen amendment to the policy brings district policy into compliance with the 2020 title 9 regulations by reverting the definition of sex-based harassment to sexual harassment. I'll continue with EX1 transfer of funds PR1 authorize a second renewal agreement with various notfor-profit organizations for community schools initiative sustain sustainable community school services. President Harden, for the record, I'd like to note abstensions for the board members for the following vendors on PR1. Member Biggs for Southwest Organizing Project number 14. Member Brown, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. Number eight, member Lopez. Member Gutierrez and Lass Chicago. number six, member Lopez for SGAA Youth and Family Services um NFP number 13, and member Rio Sierra for Southwest Organizing Project number 14. I'll continue with PR2, authorize a new agreement with Renaissance Learning,
240Inc. PR3, authorize the second final renewal agreement with various vendors for inschool arts education services. President Harden, I for the record, I would like to note an extension for board member Gutierrez for the following vendor on PR3, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance number tw. I'll continue with PR4, report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the capital improvement program. PR5, authorize a new agreement with Sentinel Technologies, Inc. PR six, authorize a third renewal agreement with various vendors for food management services. PR7 authorize a new agreement with various vendors for custom printing services. 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. Yes. Member Lopez with the noted
241abstension for the vendor on PR1. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I member Wallace. I member Kuster. I member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Ria Sierra with the noted abstension on vendor for PR1. I member Brown with the noted abstension on vendor for PR1. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez for the noted abstensions on vendors from PR1 and PR3. I. Member Biggs with the noted abstension on vendor from PR1. Yes. Member Thorakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Derry. I. 20 eyes's zero nazs. Uh with the noted abstensions from the reports as noted during the vote. These matters are adopted by the board. President Harau will continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a vote. PR8 chief procurement officer delegation of
242authority report and chief financial officer report. EX18 report on principal contracts new. EX19 report on principal contracts renewals. AR1 report on board report reisions. President Harden, these items just need to be accepted by the board. Please mark received and filed. President Harden, I will continue with items from the general counsel that do require a vote. AR2, transfer and appoint senior general counsel Yasmin given. AR3 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Mary Parker. AR4 approve payment of proposed settlement regarding Ivon Kingston on her own behalf and as guardian of KS a minor at all. President Harden, these items do require a vote. Is there a motion? So move. Is there a second? A second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I.
243Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes. Member Bannon. Hi. Vice President Bautista. Yes, member Gutierrez. I member BGS. Yes. Member Thorakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry. I. 20 eyes, zero nays. These matters are adopted by the board. President Hard. I'll continue with items from the chief executive officer that do require a vote. Ex20. approve and ratify tenative collective bargaining agreement between the board of education of the city of Chicago and the Chicago Teachers Union Local One American Federation of Teachers AFL CIO EX21 warning resolution Joel Ricks tenure teacher assigned to Morgan Park High School President Harden for the record board member Wallace will stand on EX21 I'll continue with EX22 ex22 as noted in the public
244agenda is to appoint chief officer so The action before the board for EX22 is transfer and appoint chief of schools officer effective May 5th, 2025, Sydney Morris. I'll continue with ex EX23 report on principal contract ALSC renewals. President Harden, these items do require a vote. Is there a motion? Is there a second? A second. I'll proceed with a roll call with the noted abstension from board member Wallace. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. Yes. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I. Uh. Member Wallace. I have you abstaining. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Uh, abstension on the uh contract per direction from council. Uh, otherwise. Yes. I'm sorry. which which on the CTU contract. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Member Bannon.
245I. Vice President Bautista. I. But I have a point of order. Would uh board member Wallace be able to vote on the other items uh that don't that are not that she did that she didn't have to abstain from? I'm sorry. Yes. [Laughter] I sorry about that. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Member Gutierrez. I. Member Biggs. Yes. Member Thorakura. Yes. Member Blae. I member Zachar. Yes. Member Deberry. I. We have 18 eyes with the uh two abstensions on the two items. As noted, these matters are adopted by the board. Thank you. I'm sorry about that. Um, President Harden, I'll continue with items from the board that do require a vote. RS8, resolution by the board of education of the city of Chicago regarding the discipline of Karen Bofus, tenure teacher assigned to
246Sakora Sandival Elementary School. President Harden, for the record, this resolution reflects the board of education issues an opinion and order and accepts the hearing officer's recommendation to dismiss Karen Bofus. Karen Belfuss is hereby dismissed. I'll continue with RS9 resolution approving chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational support personnel. 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. Hi. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista, yes. Member Gutieras, I. Member BGS, yes. Member Thorakura, yes. Member Blae, I. Member Zachor, yes. Member Deberry,
247I. 20 eyes, zero nazs. These matters are adopted by the board. President Harden, we will now proceed with the separate votes as noted earlier and will begin with a separate vote on RS3 resolution adopting the revised guidelines for public participation at board of education meetings. Is there a motion? Uh, I believe board member Zach or Yeah. I move to amend RS3 resolution adopting revised guidelines for public participation at board of education meetings. Um the amendment is as follows. Can you read off the actual changes you want to make to the report? Um oh before discussion. Yes. Yes. We need to know what the language that you want to change to the report is. Um just wait for me. Um okay. So I am looking to um amend two things. One is on page seven. Um
248it would replace the text that currently says union representatives who are elected executive officers of unions recognized as the exclusive representative of Chicago public schools employees or of employees of charter schools authorized by the board of education may address the board. um amend that to simply say union representatives who are executive officers of unions may address the board and I guess I can explain when we have discussion and then secondly I'm looking to uh add a sentence that says the board commits to ensure Spanish interpretation for online viewers and the Spanish captioning option for viewers who watch later as soon as practicable. you want to add that to I'm sorry which section of the public participation guidelines I don't know because it's something new so wherever it would go can you um repeat that so
249I can note it for the record I apologize no worries um the board commits to ensure Spanish interpretation for online viewers and the Spanish captioning option for viewers who watch later as soon as practicable. I don't want to delay this vote. Um I'm going to ask you to repeat that change when we get to that part. So is there a second to move the amended language to the floor? I second. I'm sorry. Who seconded? Thank you, board member Lozano. So the amended language has been moved to the floor for discussion. Board members, do you have any questions regarding the amended language? Um, am I able to just kind of give an explanation of why I'm asking that? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um, so I have received some Okay. Um, I've received some input from constituents
250um that uh fall within these particular guidelines that we're voting on today. So that's why I've asked this to be pulled out. Um if we look at the whereas section of the guidelines here um it states the board recognizes the importance of community stakeholder and employee voices in board deliberations. But we shouldn't be defining um or those groups who their voices are. Um, and the the text for the union speakers has now been modified. Um, and it's not really with regard to the fact that all of the CPS unions are part of larger entities who also speak for their members and the fact that they are uh, you know, in collaboration with other unions as well. In fact, we just read something a moment earlier about how CT local one is part of AFLCIO. So
251for example, um that's an entity that would speak for that union. So I just wanted to broaden the language on union representatives to account for the fact that these other people should be able to speak. And then uh for the other portion, um I've had constituents speak to me about the fact that people um who are not present uh do not get the opportunity to understand what's being said. Um, and we're a district that I think as board member Rivas pointed out has about 50% uh Latina students. So, it seems really important that we should do that. And I think it is highly relevant to public participation because the people who are able to listen to what's going on today will choose to participate tomorrow. Or member Rivas. Uh thank you, Mr. President. Um so,
252uh this this is the first that I'm hearing of this amendment. Um I I think we're, you know, only a few months into this. Um you know, we're all learning Robert's rules of order and and how amendments work. Um I'm just uncomfortable because I don't have the written text in front of me what this amendment is going to be. So, I really would love to have had this conversation prior to the moment it was brought up uh to be voted on. Um, so, um, I'm uncomfortable just voting on it without seeing the text what the change is going to be in the actual policy. We have the policies that were given to us. Uh, but I don't have, uh, I assume that this vote, as it said, was stated, was only a requirement because we
253had a complaint from the public access counselor, uh, which is the only reason why this came up. Um to your point, Karen, um we've had in previous board meetings other UNI representatives that have been added to the list, like when we had uh Randy Weingarten, who was outside and held her rally, but she did not she was on the list to speak, was going to be allowed to speak, but did not show up to speak. So, I don't know why it's necessary to make that change. Um but anyways, I'm uncomfortable just because I don't have the text in front of me. I would like to see what the changes look like and also just get an opinion from our general counsel around what those changes would actually do. Um, and if it would actually comply
254with open meetings act, all the other things that we need to make sure that we're complying with in the law, which I think which is why it's really really important that when we talk about amendments, we we are submitting them to board staff way in advance that it can be vetted by our general counsel. Can I can I say something to that bill? Board member Rosen Paul, excuse me. So, uh, like board member Rivas, I too am caught off guard, and I didn't even hear exactly what your amended language says, and I couldn't write it down fast enough. So, it'd be hard for me to vote because I don't even know exactly what you just said. You said you've heard from constituents regarding this, and I'm not even sure what that is. I don't even
255really understand what you're asking. So, for me, it would be very hard as well because I don't have the information. board member Brown. It's my understanding that this amendment um or this um complaint required a change like a day a day ago, right? So there was no like just for clarity for the board, there was no long period of time that folks had the information and then decided to make an amendment. I know I heard about it yesterday and so um I think the concern was and I I get the piece around the um you know needing to make a change based off what uh you know because there was a complaint and nobody's to blame for this but it just it but it was uncomfortable for me to have a change to our public
256policy uh public participation guidelines 24 hours before the school board meeting. And so I then I think what happened is that board members the core looking at how it was sort of marginalizing union representatives um guess whoever she talked to made a response. So I just want to say it wasn't an example of like her not having the her having the information sitting on it and then coming to the board meeting and springing something on the board. Yes, ma'am. That was it. Member BS. Um, is it possible to vote on the amended guidelines for public participation as we've received them and then perhaps in a future meeting make a further amendment should we desire that? So, there's a motion on the floor right now for an intervening motion to amend the language of the resolution
257which was includes the exhibit A, the public participation guidelines. The motion on the floor right now is to amend the language in that exhibit A. There's going to be a vote taken on that particular motion to amend the language. If it fails of adoption, then we go back to voting on the resolution as it was presented on the public agenda. Absolutely. I understand that. My question is more to inform the vote I'm about to take on the proposed motion to amend. There's going to be another vote. There's going to be a vote to taken on the language to amend. Oh, sorry. Um, so as I understand your question, member Biggs, is if uh whatever vote you take today on uh the public participation guidelines, this is the board's resolution, the board does have an opportunity
258to change it at a later date if they so choose um and again bring it on an agenda to vote. Is does that answer your question? It does answer my question. So, I'm just going to try to restate for my own clarity and perhaps others. So, even if we don't adopt this amendment in this moment, we could come back next month and amend what is in front of us currently. Thank you, member Lopez. Thank you, President. Well, that was one also one of my questions that board member Biggs asked. Uh the other I just wanted to state that um also hearing and rereading. Right now, I was on my phone rereading the resolution. Um, I can see especially the points, the two points. Um, and I do understand of not having the language part. Uh,
259but I do support having both of those points taken a part of consideration of it. Um, especially the Spanish part for those that watch online. Uh, but also now that having that information, that may be something that we can revisit. Um, just putting it out there. Thank you. Member Bannon. Um, just to clarify, has have the proposed wording been reviewed by legal council? It is not. Are there any further comments relative to this topic? If yes, member boys um if there's not clarity and consensus on the language for this, should we just bull it and wait till next month and and get it together so that everybody's on the right page? Everyone will have whatever edits and everyone can contribute to it in the way that there's a motion on the floor, right? So it'll
260either be voted on or up or down. Member Paul, that's basically what I wanted to clarify was that there is a potential to make a motion to table, but you can't do that while this amendment is on the floor. Correct? Question. But so there's no time sensitivity to us passing this like change because I thought there was a complaint or something and so I thought there was a time time sensitive aspect. So it sounds like it would not be recommended that we would table. There is a time sensitive element to us responding to the complaint. Okay. What's the time sensitive I don't I don't understand the time sensitivity angle of this. So, so we're the the revision is in response to a complaint that's been lodged around public participation. So, this is the action that's
261before us is based on that complaint. So, we have to respond to it because it's from the public access counselor at the attorney general's office. It's a public access complaint. say okay so members of core yes and then we'll move on okay so what we had to change was not the things that I am talking about right a bunch of other stuff got changed and that created this this problem right changing the language the original language about unions created this problem because the original uh public participation guidelines did not have this in it and that's not what the person complained about. So I think it's inappropriate that we change other things that we're not mandated to change and take away the right of some people to speak even if later on we could give them
262back their right it that right will still be gone for a period of time and that's not not okay and and then regarding the Spanish speakers they're pretty much every time having their right to accessibility limited and I know we can't wave a magic wand and make it happen. But I just think having a commitment that we are about that that we are moving in that direction if we're going to pass a public participation document. It's important to to make that commitment in a district that is almost 50% Latina, but not seeing it here in front of us. Again, can you repeat the chair? So, so let me what's let's what's let's what's let's what's let's what's let's what's let's let's continue Ellen I think I'm going to actually ask your question um I don't
263know if Susan you could or Karen you could Could you just reread I understand the the Spanish captioning that's fine I'm clear on that could Could we just have it reread the amended language for the union representation just to hear one more time that's the part I'm stuck on if you could just read it one more time I would appreciate it member Zachor I um I was trying to take the notes on the changes that you were um asking to amend in terms [Music] of I'm sorry. I'm trying to find it in the exhibit A. Should I email to you what I have, Susan? That's fine. It's under special considerations union representatives and elected public officials. Page six of exhibit A. Union representatives. It's currently reading. who are elected executive officers of unions recognized as
264the exclusive representative of Chicago public schools employees or of employees of charter schools authorized by the Chicago Board of Education may address the board. And what board member Zagor is um proposing to amend is to read union representatives may address the board. Did I get that correctly? Right. I think it to also say who are executive officers which was the previous specification prior to this this change that it's executive officers. So if I'm I'm sorry if I could just clarify it's it's simply removing the piece that's stated about them being the sole representative of the district. Correct. extend that beyond. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So, we have action on four. So, um we'll call for a roll call vote on the amended language as proposed by board member Zachor. Member Loausano. Motto
265SC, how you all feel about that? Yes. Member Smith. No. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. No. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. No. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. No. Member Rivas. No. Member Rio Sierra. Hi. Member Brown. Mioto SC. For the court reporter, I will note that as yes. Member Bannon. No. Vice Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. No. Member Biggs. No. Member Thodakura. Yes. Member Blae. I. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry. Yes. 12 eyes, eight nazs. The motion to amend the language in the resolution RS3 is adopted. President Harden and board members, we will now vote on the board report RS3. Um, resolution, I'm sorry, I got to pull up the the name of the report. Resolution adopting revised guidelines for public participation at board of education meetings with the amended language.
266Is there a motion? So move I'm sorry who's who moved? Vice President Vice President Bautista moved. Is there a second? Lopez second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. No. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I. Member Bole. I Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. No. Member Biggs, no. Member Thodicura, yes. Member Blae, I. Member Zachor, yes. Member Deberry, I. 17 eyes's, three nazs. This matter is adopted by the board. President Howard and we will now proceed with the separate vote as noted earlier RS4 resolution announcing the board's search for its next chief executive officer superintendent. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second.
267So moved. We'll now open this matter up for discussion. Board members, any comments before proceeding with the roll call? Oh, the vote. Oh, member Smith. I'm sorry. What was the comments on? I don't have I don't Okay, your mic was on. No worries. I'm perfectly fine with you deferring, bigs. Um, so I'd like to first thank CEO Martinez for his exceptional service to our district and congratulate him on what sounds like a new position in Massachusetts. Um, I'd also like to thank the team of board members who has been working overtime on their volunteer jobs uh to put together a process around a CEO search that we are doing everything in our power to be as inclusive as possible of constituents across the city um including those right here in this room. So I am
268very proud to put forth this resolution that announces the beginning of our community engagement process both geographically across districts as well as within various stakeholder groups um and really starting to look for the next leader of our district um who fits a set of values that we have started to come together around. So, I'd like to thank uh board member Pope, uh board member Smith, and board member Rio Sierra, and certainly President Harden for some really exceptional work um and all of your time on this. Thank you for your leadership, Bigs. Member Bannon, um I just wanted to compliment the the committee on being so transparent by opening up this process to the whole city. Um I think it's going to be transformative for uh the next superintendent search and uh I'm excited about the
269process. Member third core. I again want to say thank you to everyone um who's been doing a lot of work on this process. I'm thinking a lot about multilingual engagement given the amendment that we just made and passed about public participation, but then also the comment that was given during public comment period about um community engagement in the Spanish language only session where um a participant was not able to speak, was not addressed, was not recognized. And I think it's really important that throughout this process, uh, the resolution is intentional about naming what are the out, um, insights and the outcomes from each of the different engagement sessions and how are we going to use that to inform the CEO search. And I think um, one of the other ways we can continue to be
270intentional is by having real multilingual engagement efforts. um and revisiting some of our other engagement processes to make sure that we're not just checking a box when it comes to engagement, but we approach these conversations with community members as a promise that we're listening and we're going to do something with the conversations that we have. So, thank you, Member Lopez. Thank you, President. Um, for those watching from home, especially our constituency, please be on the lookout if uh about meetings that many all of us actually are organizing in our districts to hear directly from you from the community as to what we should be on the lookout uh or be priority for the next person that we hire in this uh role. It's a very important role. Um, in briefly, I'll say in Spanish, Chicago.
271And I also want to thank uh our current SEAL. I know that many of the families including u my dad when he was here for the first time when I got sworn in um he pulls me to a side. He's like I just saw the seal Pedro Martinez. And it's because uh you know our current he's able to connect with the community and speak the language and there's many uh you know many individuals within Latino community that we feel very proud of having someone that came from the community in this position. Thank you. Member Paul. Yes. I think this is a very exciting opportunity for us to really reimagine the process of community engagement. I've been to a jillion community engagement meetings over the years. Some of them have been desolatory and uh routine in
272nature. Others have been more open and uh more input from the community. We have a community that is old, young, black, white, Latin, Asian-American, gay, queer, straight. We have communities that speak a huge number of different languages. We have an economic diversity in our city from people who are unhoused to people who are extremely affluent who have their kids in the schools of our city. And we need to hear all of those voices. We also need to hear the voices of our students. I think it's critical that we have student listening stations. I'm sorry that uh Catalina is not here with us now, but I think it would be a fabulous opportunity for one of the citywide student engagement sessions to be focused on what they would like to see in the new leadership of
273CPS because our students are the ones who are our future. Our students are the ones who our five-year plan and our strategic vision have been designed for and their voices are critical to this as are the voices of educators, clinicians, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, parents of all kinds. So, let's let's really try to make this as robust as we can. Member Rio. Yeah, thank you. Um, thank you board member Pope for that inspirational um reminder. Uh, I it's been it's been a joy to work with board member Biggs and board member Smith and board member Pope. Um, I just want to just really reaffirm um my commitment right as someone who comes from an sustainable community schools background. Um, I'm proud to serve with sustainable community school champions like board member Zachor, board member Brown. Um,
274and I just want to commit to asking all the questions of any um, superintendent candidate, right? Asking all the questions and making sure that um, any candidate commits to to making sure that Chicago becomes a sustainable community schools district that that we really embody that this approach to schooling, right? that really engages our communities, that really commits to to to us working together to make our schools everything that we need them to be, right? And so, um, I just want to make sure that this new superintendent is committed to building each school, building a village that, um, where every student across our city can walk to a school that's providing a world-class education, right? And so I just look forward to really engaging our school communities to to continue this conversation and I look forward
275to collaborating with all of you to make sure that this be this continues to be a priority for for our new leader and for us as a board. Thank you. One of the exciting things about this process is that it affords us an opportunity to demonstrate our solidarity. Um, and so I'm excited about how we've begun and how we'll finish. Again, thank you Bigs for your leadership on this. Uh, I'm excited to get going. And, uh, with that, we will move right along. I'll proceed with a roll call vote on RS4. Member Lozano, yes. Member Smith, yes. Member Lopez, I. Member Thomas, I. Member Bole. I. Member Wallace. I. Member Kuster. I. Member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenville. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes. Ma'am. Member Bannon. Hi. Vice President Bautista.
276Yes. Member Gutierrez. I. Member Biggs. Yes. Member Thora. Yes. Member Blae. Hi. Member Zachor. Yes. Member Deberry. Yes. 20 eyes, zero nazs. This matter is adopted by the board. President Harden, I believe board member Pope has motion MO3. Your mic, please. Mic check. Mic check. My apologies. I move that the board adopt the minutes of the closed session meetings of March 5th, 2025 and March 20th, 2025 pursuant to section 2.06 of the Open Meetings Act. Board members reviewed these minutes and determined that the need for confidentiality exists. Therefore, the minutes of the closed session meetings held March 5th, 2025 and March 20th, 2025 shall be maintained as confidential and are not available for public inspection. I second the motion. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I member Lopez. I member
277Thomas. I member Bole. I member Wallace. I member Kuster. I member Pope. Yes. Member Rosenfeld. Yes. Member Rivas. Yes. Member Rio Sierra. I. Member Brown. Yes, ma'am. Member Bannon. I. Vice President Bautista. Yes. Member Gutierrez. I. Member Biggs. Yes. Member Thodicura. Yes. Member Blae, I. Member Zachor, yes. Member Deberry, I. 20 eyes, zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. We will now move into executive session. Board member Bole, do you have a motion? M4. I move for the passage of motion number 25-0424-m and the commencement of a close session to consider matters permitted under section 2C of the open meetings act subsection one as specified in the motion. Is there a second? So moved. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes. Member Smith. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Thomas. I member
278Bole I member Wallace I member Kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld member Rosenfeld said yes for the record I'm sorry member Rivas yes member Rio I member Brown yes ma'am member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes memberura yes member blaze I member Zach Yes. Member Deberry. I 20 eyes, zero nazs. This motion is adopted by the board. meeting will now go into cold session. The board meeting of of the board of education is reconvened. Board secretary, please proceed. President Haron, I would like to note for the record that there are no items to vote on from executive session. Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Some move. Is there a second? So move. All in favor? We are journ. Thank you everyone.