{"id":28380,"date":"2016-02-09T15:56:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T21:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=28380"},"modified":"2016-02-09T16:15:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T22:15:54","slug":"city-colleges-chicago-public-schools-teachers-push-for-elected-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/city-colleges-chicago-public-schools-teachers-push-for-elected-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"City Colleges, Chicago Public Schools teachers push for elected boards"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton <\/strong><\/p>\n

Faculty at City Colleges of Chicago are banding together with their counterparts in Chicago Public Schools to push for legislation that would bring elected boards to both districts.<\/p>\n

Both groups want to curb Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s power by ending his ability to hand-pick board members, as well as the chief executive officer of CPS and the chancellor of City Colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now our mayor has too much power over the decisions about education, frankly. There aren\u2019t any checks,\u201d said Kim Knuston, the faculty council president at Wilbur Wright City College on the North Side.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Chicago Teachers Union and grassroots activists have lobbied for several years to have an elected board for CPS, with no results with lawmakers in Springfield, who would have to approve the move. CPS and City Colleges are the only districts in the state to have appointed boards.<\/p>\n

Now the Cook County Teachers Union, which represents City Colleges faculty, has taken up a similar fight, sparked by accusations that the administration neglected faculty and student input into key decisions.<\/p>\n

In a complaint sent to the Higher Learning Commission (which grants accreditation to post-secondary institutions in the region), the faculty council of City Colleges criticized the decision to consolidate programs without faculty, student and community input into the impact of the move.<\/p>\n

The complaint also says City Colleges is violating practices deemed essential by the Commission, including eliminating the position of chief academic officer or provost, a job that the Commission considers a requirement. Jennifer Alexander, faculty council president at Richard J. Daley College in West Lawn, said that the previous provost left in spring 2015 and that district administrators then eliminated the position. Alexander also noted that the primary decision-makers at City Colleges\u2019 district office are not academics, but people with a business background.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the complaint states, \u201cdistrict office does not present itself clearly and completely to students. The information on program consolidation and specialized accreditation has been withheld from or misrepresented to students, who grow more confused with each passing day of uncertainty and miscommunication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knuston claims that the City Colleges plan to consolidate programs has been in the works, under the radar, for several years. \u201cIt all started with meetings with various people, like the Civic Consulting Alliance, which is part of the Commercial Club [a business-oriented civic group]. The first public acknowledgement of this happening was at the Economic Club in 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, Emanuel replaced four board members in 2015, Knuston pointed out. \u201cNot only is that too much power but it\u2019s nightmarish,\u201d she said. \u201cThe turnover has been frightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Democracy does not exist”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon Johnson, an organizer and deputy political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, expressed similar concerns. \u201cRight now in Chicago, the democracy within our public school system does not exist,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have a hand-picked school board that is beholden to the mayor, who is ultimately beholden to corporate interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The influx of privately-run charters under Emanuel, which started under his predecessor Mayor Richard M. Daley, is also a sore point. \u201cSince we\u2019ve had privatization here in Chicago, we\u2019ve lost half of our black teaching force and then ultimately the removal of [resources] from our neighborhood schools,\u201d added Johnson.<\/p>\n

An elected board, Knuston said, \u201cwould answer to the public or the community instead of just the mayor. Right now the faculty, the students and the communities are not involved in all of these decisions, and haven\u2019t been.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cook County Teachers Union Local 1600 President, Tony Johnston, said local input is essential. \u201cWe want our communities to have a voice in how their community college is run,\u201d Johnston declared.<\/p>\n

Johnston and State Rep. Robert Martwick Jr., D-Chicago, recently introduced legislation to the Illinois House that would implement an elected board for City Colleges. Johnston said the legislation was introduced after he saw Martwick introduce a bill to have an elected board for CPS. Johnston asked Martwick about introducing similar legislation.<\/p>\n

Martwick believes that the bill for CPS has a very good chance to pass in the House. \u201cWe need 60 votes to pass a bill out of the house and I currently have 56 co-sponsors,\u201d said Martwick.<\/p>\n

The City Colleges bill, which was filed more recently, has a high likelihood of passing during the next legislative session, according to Martwick.<\/p>\n

Upcoming votes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CPS bill is currently in the elementary and secondary education committee and Martwick said he will try to move it through a committee hearing in February and a floor vote in the coming months.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for City Colleges declined to comment. Chicago Public Schools did not return calls seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Although the City Colleges legislation is still in the early stages, Johnston said that the Cook County Teachers Union is trying to get as many cosponsors as possible, such as State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, and State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago.<\/p>\n

Johnston noted that before the City Colleges legislation was introduced in mid-November, Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner spoke out against an elected school board for Chicago. But the response from the public has been very positive, Johnston added.<\/p>\n

Despite the campaign, Johnston noted that the Cook County Teachers Union is just trying to change the system and said he tried to communicate at a December 2015 board meeting that he wasn\u2019t attacking the board members as individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this gets passed, I would encourage them to run because from what I\u2019ve seen it\u2019s a pretty good board,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at this system-wide and as far as democracy is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below is the document sent to the Higher Learning Commission by the Faculty Council of the City Colleges of Chicago.<\/em><\/p>\n

[scribd id=298663118 key=key-EOqH4N4jHqC8PdesEgxZ mode=scroll]<\/p>\n

Photo at top: City Colleges of Chicago flags fly at its headquarters in downtown Chicago. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton Faculty at City Colleges of Chicago are banding together with their counterparts in Chicago Public Schools to push for legislation that would bring elected boards to both districts. Both groups want to curb Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s power by ending his ability to hand-pick board members, as well as the chief executive officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":28479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,675,585],"tags":[774,61,270,1184,767,768,1185,1181,770,1183,1187,1186,147,1182],"class_list":["post-28380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-ccc","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-public-schools","tag-chicago-teachers-union","tag-city-colleges-of-chicago","tag-consolidation-of-programs","tag-cook-county-teachers-union","tag-cps","tag-daley-college","tag-elected-board","tag-higher-learning-commission","tag-local-1600","tag-rahm-emanuel","tag-robert-martwick"],"yoast_head":"\nCity Colleges, Chicago Public Schools teachers push for elected boards - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/city-colleges-chicago-public-schools-teachers-push-for-elected-boards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City Colleges, Chicago Public Schools teachers push for elected boards - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Branden Hampton Faculty at City Colleges of Chicago are banding together with their counterparts in Chicago Public Schools to push for legislation that would bring elected boards to both districts. 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