Chicago Public Schools headquarters. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
At the first meeting of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new Board of Education, members announced a host of sweeping changes they say are aimed at improving transparency, community engagement and elevating issues important to stakeholders.
Board President Jianan Shi and other members on Wednesday said they will move the date of their monthly meetings, expand public speaking spots and hold new special education-focused committee meetings moving forward.
“While 16 months until the first elected school board members are seated doesn’t feel like a long time, we owe it to those who came before us, to the 300,000-plus students we serve, to the over 40,000-plus staff that are part of CPS, (to) hit the ground running, work to overcome the steep challenges in front of us and transform this district,” Shi said.
The changes announced Wednesday include moving the date of the monthly board meeting from the fourth Wednesday of the month to the fourth Thursday of the month, in order to avoid conflicts with regular City Council meetings.
The board will also expand the number of public speaker slots at both its monthly meetings and its agenda review committee meetings up to 30, allowing for a total of up to 60 speakers to address the board each month. Monthly meetings will also be held at different locations throughout the city, rather than just at the school district’s central office.
Board member Mary Fahey Hughes, a longtime special education advocate, will also begin leading new special education advisory committee meetings — which she said will include parents, advocates, educators and other stakeholders — that will focus on prioritizing the needs and issues Chicago’s special education community faces.
The first of these meetings will be held Aug. 1 at the Rudolph Learning Center, 1628 W. Washington Blvd.
And beginning this fall, the board will also increase participation for the honorary student board member — a CPS high school student who is selected to work alongside the board each month. The student will now be seated alongside the rest of the full board members and will be given the ability to hold student-centered round tables and ensure board decisions are better guided by the students who are affected by them.
The board, which features six new members and one returning member, also issued a joint statement that details a list of core values that includes: listen to those who have been harmed by past district decisions, responding and collaborating with the community, and seeking equitable solutions for both short- and long-term needs.
“As a board,” Shi said in a statement, “we want to create more opportunities for the public to access our meetings, provide input on the decisions of the Board, and help shape a district and Board that reflects the core values and beliefs of our community, and these new initiatives will help do just that.”
The board will begin shifting from a mayoral-appointed into an elected body beginning with the first wave of elections next fall.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
