Teachers, parents, students and community groups are urging state legislators and Chicago’s next mayor to revamp the current school board to include elected members.
By doing so, Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said it would allow for more input from parents who have children attending public schools.
“By establishing an elected school board it would give democracy a choice,” Lewis told the Defender at a Dec. 29 press conference and rally held at the Thompson Center. “The community needs to be a part of the school board and that can be best achieved by having a student, parent and community resident as members.”
Norm Bobbins, Peggy Davis, Roxanne Ward, Clare Munana, Dr.
Tariq Butt and Alberto Carrero Jr. are members of the current school board.
Mary Richardson-Lowry serves as the board’s president. All of them were
appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Lewis and community organizations are proposing that members consist of three residents from the South Side, two from the West Side, two from the North Side, two school teachers, one academic professional, one paraprofessional, one school staffer and one person from the business community.
Mayor Richard M. Daley said he does not favor an elected school board.
“To run a system with a $5 to 6 billion budget requires someone with business sense,” Daley said at a recent City Hall news conference.
Jitu Brown, education organizer for the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization on the South Side, said due to an absence of a “real” Chicago school board, schools are suffering.
“A lot of neighborhood schools were better before the Chicago school board turned them around, phased them out and consolidated them. Now, we are seeing double-digit spikes in violence because so many schools have had to absorb students coming from schools closed down,” Brown told the Defender at the press conference and rally.
In 1995 the Illinois Legislature, controlled by the
Republicans, amended the School Reform Act, which gave Daley the authority to
take control of the Chicago Public Schools and to appoint members to the
Chicago Board of Education as well as nominate a chief executive officer to
oversee CPS. The amended act also removed the education requirement for the
school district’s leader thus allowing Daley to appoint non-educators to the
post.
Austin community resident Michelle Young, president of
Action Now, a Chicago community organization, said more community
representation is needed on the board and not executives.
“Businessmen do not know what’s best for our children but we
do,” said Young, who has children in CPS.
School district officials said Chicago along with other big
cities, such as New York, have seen test scores soar under a system of
appointed school board members.
“A study done by Brown University (Providence, R.I.) looked
at test scores from 1999-2003 of the 100 largest school districts. Students in
mayor-controlled schools systems often perform better than those in other urban
systems,” said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for CPS. “In CPS, the number of
students who meet or exceed state standards went from 36 percent in 2000 to
71.7 percent today.”
Bond added that CPS did change its test during this time
period but still attributes student improvement based in part on how the school
district is now managed.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
