Troy LaRaviere Out as President of Principal’s Union
Troy LaRaviere is out as the President of the Principals & Administrators Association (CPAA). He has been replaced by Kia Banks.
But you would not know this if you searched the Internet or googled his name. In fact the fiery leader who has championed the rights of black principals is still the president according to social media.
It was announced rather quietly at the Chicago Board of Education June 26, 2025 meeting. I had to rub my eyes and search hard to confirm what Kia Banks said was indeed true.
“I’m the new president,” she told the Trustees at the beginning of the public participation period. “I’m here to represent school leaders.”
Kia Banks, who served as Chief of Staff, became the president on July 1, 2025, according to the CPAA website. Troy LaRaviere is now the senior director after serving as the CPAA president from 2016-2025.
She, like many others at the board meeting, welcomed the new interim CPS CEO Dr. Macquline King. Kia Banks mostly read from a script, a far cry from the days of thunder and smoke that rose from the podium of Troy LaRaviere, the principal union leader who backed down to no one. He took on powerful entities, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his plan to privatize public education, the Chicago Teachers Union over the recently signed teachers’ contract and the Chicago Board of Education to defend black principals who he deemed were unfairly fired.
His power and popularity led to him exploring at one point a run for Mayor. However, he never had the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union, and his social media presence fell silent the last few years.
Second City Teachers reached out to Kia Banks and Troy LaRaviere for comment and are waiting for an answer.
“We need fully staffed and fully resourced schools,” Banks told the Trustees. “We welcome Dr. King. You value relationships and transparency.”
Troy LaRaviere stood up to Mayor Emanuel back during the Race to the Top dark days to destroy the teachers unions and privatize public education. He spoke out against charter schools replacing public schools and the over emphasis on standardized testing. His outspoken criticism eventually let to the Mayor removing him as a principal. His popularity led him to easily win election to the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association which formed its first union.
But his fire against the corporate political leadership of the city soon turned on the teachers as he went to war to defend several controversial black principals who were fired. The latest was the ouster of the Principal at Lindblom High School in which he called out teachers who complained about the principal neglecting the Special Education needs of the students among other allegations.
The battle between the principals union v. the teachers union will play out under the yolk of an increasingly powerful central command run via the networks who force the schools to implement the corporate agenda, which includes more standardized testing with less resources.
Troy LaRaviere was ableist and a misogynists, so while the investigative memos related to test prep were used to fire him, there were a great many other issues he was investigated for.
We need a PROGRESSIVE FAIR TAX IN ILLINOIS! There was a vote to replace the current flat tax system with a Progressive Fair Tax system which did not pass. People believed Ken Griffin the Hedge Fund Billionaire that it was a bad idea. Go figure, people who vote against their own interests! The idea is to "restructure one stream of revenue for the state by shifting some burden to the highest-income Illinoisans (most states have a progressive income tax structure, "What’s the matter with Illinois? https://sites.northwestern.edu/chicagodemocracy/2021/03/12/whats-the-matter-with-illinois-the-fair-tax-fails/