Chicago Board of Education Meeting June 28, 2023
Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle chaired his last board meeting since 2019.
Students, teachers and officials from the Chicago Teachers Union CTU spoke at the June 28, 2023 Board Meeting about the need to build green public schools.
CTU Financial Secretary Marina Moreno first talked about the need to transform Chicago Public Schools CPS into healthy green anti-racist schools by using the 10 year building facility plan to address pollution and environmental hazards, implement solar and green spaces like Northside College Prep, but more needs to be done on the Southside. She said CPS could have 100 electric buses like the Joliet School District, and students can learn to install solar panels on schools and homes and train for future green jobs.
She said CTU has successfully completed a set of new agreements with a vast majority of charter schools, which puts wages on par with district schools and resources for students. However, Namase Charter School staff did not receive raises despite getting more per pupil funding. Namaste management told teachers to drop their demands for better pay and more student resources or they will not offer anything. Other speakers said the school is resistant to student rights including immigrant and LGBTQ students and other non-binary students, and many educators have left the charter school. Namaste is up for renewal.
“They refuse to negotiate over minimal staffing (requirements), they won’t commit to social worker and bilingual minimal teacher staffing levels,” Moreno said. “(During the) Namaste charter renewal process, we ask you to support Namaste educators.”
The battle at Lindblom High School over the firing of an African-American Principal continued when Principal Association President Troy LaRaviere once again spoke on the matter after he was thrown out at the last month’s board meeting for allegedly defaming Lindlom staff who testified against the former principal for irregularities. He called out white teachers who he said made up accusations against a black administrator and claimed graduation and attendance went up and the culture and climate at Lindblom improved under the former Princiapl Abdul Muhammad. LaRaviere again continued to read from his report that the charges against Muhammad were false or petty and the witchhunt went right up to CPS Chief Pedro Martinez. He said the same thing happened to other black principals removed with no due process to confront their accusers.
“Brittney Griner got more due process in Russia under Putin,” LaRaviere thundered.
The two black security guards next to LaRaviere were then ordered to remove him, but they did not take action until a third lighter skinned security guard arrived. del Valle then called for a five minute recess.
The next public speaker was former Chicago Board of Ed Member and Chicago Teachers Pension Fund CTPF Trustee Dwayne Truss who was fired by Lightfoot many believe because he was against building a new high school in the South Loop area because many surrounding black schools are severely underenrolled. (A few parents later spoke out in support of building the new South Loop High School which they claim is important to keep middle class families in the city.)
“Man, I thought there was going to be fireworks so I brought my picnic basket,” said Truss, referring to the previous LaRaviere explosive exit, Act II.
He was joined by CTPF President Jeffery Blackwell and said he just wanted to say thank you to the outgoing board members, including del Valle with whom he served on the Teachers Pension Fund.
A member of the Local School Council of Prescott Elementary School said they are seeking to build a new auditorium and gym space at their school which they never had in their 125 year history. The speaker mentioned the Principal Erin Roche, who he claimed helped turn around the school when enrollment had fallen to 200 students before he took over. Indeed Dr. Roche performed a ‘turnaround’ on the school about 15 years ago when he forced out the entire staff by issuing poor evaluations and intimidation that resulted in a picket line and protests from the veteran staff. The Northside School like others went through a transformation where upper white middle class students replaced the former bused-in minority kids. Turnaround was the CPS Model to privatize education by firing the entire staff because they are ‘failures’ and a private management company would run the school. This model championed by former CPS Chief and Education Secretary Arne Duncan went national until it was discredited and the private AUSL managed schools returned to the public.
But the corporate fight to privatize continued to play out at the June Board Meeting when the next speaker Allison Jack, the senior director of charter growth and support at the IL Network of Charter Schools, told Board members that a Standford Study detailed how great charter schools are (funny because CORE cited a Stanford study that stated charters were not that great 15 years ago). She said charters showed stronger growth in reading and math, they enroll mostly minority children and are neighborhood schools. Jack said she taught at Holmes and Beethoven public schools on the Southside.
CORE and the CTU Leadership fought back against charter schools by citing they were simply corporate tools to destroy regular public schools and their unionized teachers.
The script has now completely flipped whereas the Board of Ed and its corporate mayors who once promoted charter schools is now being run by a pro-public school Mayor and Board of Ed President.
A number of charter school advocates continued to speak at the Board Meeting, claiming they are public schools (they are funded with taxes, but privately run, resulting in lower teacher pay), how much they love their charter school, and that they have reduced absences and suspensions (Noble Charter Network which has fiercely resisted unionization was rocked with accusations of its draconian penal system that fined and suspended its students at rates far exceeding the public schools).
The next big topic that the CTU organized speakers focused on was green schools. A Northside College Prep science teacher and CTU Climate Justice Committee member talked about poor air quality and ventilation in the schools and how CPS needs to work with the CTU to fix water pipes and showcase a curriculum that focuses on the environment.
Lauren Bianchi from Washington High School, who was almost fired for protesting with students against General Iron, said their school that was built to be an elementary school is today overcrowded and not in good condition. The ceiling collapsed, they need a new green school, and there are far too many buildings in the city that have lead, asbestos and mold. A couple of students also addressed the board about the need for green schools and lead-free pipes.
At the end of the meeting, President del Valle asked CPS staff to address the concerns about the water pipes. They said CPS each year tests about 25 percent of its schools for lead in the water, and if lead exceeds the limit they reflush and retest and if still too high they take them out of service. He asked CPS official, who said the City of Chicago needs to replace 50 percent of its water pipes, to figure out how much it would cost to test a lot more schools, say 75 percent. del Valle congratulated the students for advocating for clean green schools and said he remembered a group of students at Whitney Young High School who talked about the need for solar energy.