Chicago Board of Education Meeting Feb. 22, 2024
The big news that came out of last month’s Chicago Board of Education Meeting was the decision to finally remove all cops in the schools and begin a holistic approach to dealing with the trauma that triggers violent acts amongst the youth.
“As the CTU Representative our members have frequently stood for more support and nurturing resources over punitive incarceral interventions,” said Chicago Teachers Union VP Jackson Potter in the beginning of the public speaker portion of the Feb. 22, 2024 Chicago Board of Education Meeting.
Jackson said that when his former Back of the Yards High School debated removing School Resource Officers or SRO’s from the school, it was a hotly debated topic because some thought violence would spike.
“But the sky did not fall,” he said, “and instead many of the schools that removed SRO’s instead hired more social workers and are now thriving.”
He said surveys showed that if you just ask people if they want more police without support services, they will always say more police. However, if you ask them if they want jobs, violence education programs, and more education opportunities, almost in every conversation Chicagoans will overwhelmingly choose “healing over pain, liberation over more incarceration.”
“Last year when students were shot and killed at Juarez High School family members and bystanders to that tragedy did not receive sustained or adequate support,” he said. “In some cases nothing. They got nothing, and that must change.”
The two big hot topics that the mainstream media wrote about from this monthly public meeting was the vote to remove the SRO’s, spearheaded by the CTU and community groups, and the decision to drop Aramark.
The CTU Charter Vice Chair Caroline Rutherford thanked the board members for helping to end the one-week strike with Charter School Instituto Progreso that resulted in hiring more special education and bilingual staff, as well as a librarian and nurse. One union official noted that the company that manages Instituto took resources from the school to fund their health clinics. This is the reason the CTU pushes for a one-year renewal with conditions to enforce compliance. “They now have to put more money in the classroom instead of management,” she said.
The SEIU Local 73 Vice President Stacia Scott made another appearance before the Board of Education to thank the trustees for dropping Aramark, but continued to ask the Board to bargain in good faith with her low-paid school workers. “We need to make sure our support staff who give their all to Chicago children are able to live in this city and do not have to take out credit card debt to buy their groceries.”
The Urban Prep crowd were once again out in full force to tout their embattled charter school. They had sued the Chicago Public Schools to force them to extend their charter until June 2024 at their Bronzeville and Englewood campuses after the Board had voted not to renew their charter because of allegations that they mismanaged funds, sexually abused a student and failed to comply with special education laws (a common problem with charters; Instituto had 15 special ed vacancies before the strike!).
Charters were once the darling of the pro-business right wing crowd and school choice advocates. Former Speaker Mike Madigan, a union guy, once wore an UNO Charter cap (now Acero Charter) after authorizing them $98 million in state funds (but the state later cut the funding to UNO after corrupt inside deals were exposed). Madigan also helped pass a law to allow charters to bypass the school district's decision to close them by allowing them to appeal to the state despite outrageous cases such as Urban Prep.
The charter predator and unionized public school prey roles have been reversed!
But the protests in favor of school choice and magnet schools for those who can test into the elite schools of the city continue. A parent called the recent Board of Ed plan to focus on neighborhood schools an attack on selective enrollment schools because these schools are diverse. A former Whitney Young High School grad slammed Juarez and Curie High Schools because they did not offer her a good education.
Charter school advocates used to constantly trash the neighborhood schools during the privatization days of Corporate Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel. That was when CORE was formed and teachers united to fight back against school closings, in mostly impoverished black schools on the Southside.
Dr. Angel Alvarez called CPS “racist and stupid” for attacking selective enrollment schools. The doctor with dark stringy hair and a dark beard resembling more a beatnik poet than a right-wing ranter, has been a regular at board meetings. “I believe in accountability and transparency!” he thundered in his opening statement. He punctuated each sentence with an exclamation point, as he huffed and puffed his way to demanding accountability that should not demonize the police (it's the schools’ fault!).
His presence reminded me years ago of an elderly bespectacled lady who constantly blasted CPS Board Members for not banning the word ‘kid.’ The word kid which originally meant the offspring of a goat was first applied to children in the 1500s. Was this because the children were considered boisterous or did a lot of roughhousing? Anyway, during this day and age when we change many words to show respect (guest workers not sub, success criterion not objective, unhoused not homeless), I think she had a point. Who is advocating for the “kids” today?
The Malusky couple continued to deride the decision to cut busing which affects the magnet schools. They said CPS offer of free Ventra passes did not prevent children from dropping out of their magnet schools. They said to reinstate the transportation allowance of $500 per month per student for the year, which would amount to only $13 million to solve the problem. “Can we solve the problem today?” Mr. Malusky demanded. “Thanks.”
Kennedy High School Principal George Szkapiak spoke about how great his school is with one of the best IB programs. But they are one of the most overcrowded high schools in the city because they are so great, and they are in desperate need of an addition to serve students in a school with packed hallways and no more space for classes.
The last public speaker was a parent from the Acero Charter School who complained that their children are confused, depressed and stressed out that the school implemented uni-sex bathrooms. She said the principal ignored the parents' concerns about bathrooms for boys and girls that are now open to either gender. “They are depressed because their privacy has been violated!”