To help inform voters on who’s running for Chicago’s elected school board, the Chicago Tribune education team posed a series of questions to the candidates in each district. These questions ranged from basic information on their background and campaign platform to their stance on several issues facing Chicago Public Schools.
See the answers from Adam Parrott-Sheffer, candidate for elected school board in the 10th District, below.
About the Candidate
Name: Adam Parrott-Sheffer
Age: 41
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
School District: 10
Education: Doctor of Education Leadership, Harvard University; Master of Education Leadership, Harvard University; Master of Science in education policy, University of Pennsylvania; Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Current Job: Adjunct faculty
Previous Political Experience: None.
Questions and Answers
In the interest of transparency, the candidate’s responses shown here are published as written and have not been edited by the Tribune.
Did you attend Chicago Public Schools or is anyone in your immediate family a CPS student? Yes, an immediate family member.
Have you worked at Chicago Public Schools or another school? What is your background in education?
I have spent two decades as a classroom reading and special education teacher, a school principal, and a district leader. I teach and write about school district improvement and new-to-role leadership that advances equity for the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
I worked for CPS at Bret Harte Elementary School as a school leader and was principal of Peterson Elementary school where we reduced behavioral referrals by 55% and increased student learning in reading, math, and science during my tenure. Since leaving CPS as an employee, I have presented at CPS principal and teacher professional learning institutes and I have coached new-to-role principals.
I also volunteer at my children’s schools.
Why are you running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education?
It matters to me that our board consists of current Chicago Public School parents who have experience creating the conditions for powerful learning and have improved large bureaucracies. That is my story. I am a 5th generation Chicagoan and proud public school parent who has spent 20 years making our schools work better for all kids. I am frustrated with the experiences our students with disabilities and multilingual learners have in our schools and I know we can do better. That starts with a board committed to transparency, accountability, and increased communication. It will also require financial discipline. I want to deliver on that promise for each and every child who walks through our school doors.
How would you describe your district?
District 10 is a large district serving young people across 89 very different schools. It is the center of the generational disinvestment in public education and therefore needs to be the source of our return to excellence. We have talented educators and young people who are ready. We need the resources and leadership to meet this moment with them.
How would you describe your campaign platform?
Our kids deserve joy-filled schools where all kids are respected. Everyday. This means that they feel significant, know they belong, and have fun while learning.
Our kids should experience powerful learning. Everyday. This means providing learning opportunities that are rooted in showing mastery, leverage individual and community creativity, and allow learners to connect to their identities.
Our schools must be safe places where each kid thrives. Everyday. This means that we make sure that each kid can access an excellent education no matter their zip code, the color of their skin, their sexual identity, or the money in their family’s bank account.
I care deeply about special education, multilingual learners, youth leadership, the arts, early childhood, and increasing the number of Black and Brown educators and leaders. We must do these things while attending to the structural inequities in our school funding. We must ensure good governance and budget management so that we do not bankrupt future generations.
What is the single most important issue facing CPS students?
Persistent low academic performance due to systemic disinvestment in our public schools.
Provide three to four key points you want voters to know about your campaign.
I am the only candidate who is a parent, a teacher, and a principal with two decades of experience getting results for students through the arts, early childhood, career and technical education, and special education. Furthermore, I am an independent candidate who has not received funds from special interest groups. In fact, 72% of my donors are parents and educators. I have support from over 50 principals and over 10 superintendents. People who know our schools best know that I can deliver for each of our students.
Given this year’s budgetary problems and disagreements on how to solve them, what do you propose for the district’s funding in future years? Would you support the district in taking on any loans in future years to fund the annual budget?
I believe we have to live within our means as a city while prioritizing our most important resource- our children. This means that we need to consider budget cuts that focus on shrinking central office while protecting the core of teachers, students, and curriculum. We need to address TIF funding to maximize school dollars. I also think we can be creative and generate revenue/reduce expenses through community schools that are open in partnership with the park district, public libraries, health centers, and non-profit organizations. An independent audit can help us identify how best to make these decisions and ensure we are working from the same data and evidence in a transparent way.
Borrowing is not an option for our city as it will bankrupt our future.
The Chicago Board of Education recently adopted a new 5-year Strategic Plan. Which aspects do you support and which would you change, if any?
The big ideas of the plan — particularly the focus on students who have been marginalized by our system is spot on. What will matter is how the plan is implemented. We have had scores of plans in Chicago and they rarely make it past the plan stage.
What I am most interested in regarding this plan is how we use evidence to understand how the strategies are going and how we adjust as we learn about what works and doesn’t work through implementation. This is the work of governance.
As thousands of migrant families settle in Chicago, how should the District handle the influx of English learners? What more should be done to ensure consistent bilingual education is provided and funded?
We know how to do this in Chicago. I was principal in a community where families spoke over 30 languages and represented over 70 nationalities. We were a landing place for refugees from every global conflict.
Our schools should be designed so that each student leaves them multilingual and ready to be global citizens. This will require incentivizing bilingual and ESL endorsements for teachers and tapping into community partners.
We can build upon the expertise of those who have been doing this work well before the current influx of new neighbors in Chicago.
Do you believe the district has historically underinvested in South and West side schools? Yes.
If yes, what solutions would you propose to address inequities and opportunity gaps in the school system?
We can leverage investments in new building infrastructure, additional academic centers housed in neighborhood schools, and greater adoption of community school models in partnership with community organizations and other city agencies.
Since his election, Mayor Johnson has indicated a desire to move away from school choice and bolster neighborhood schools. This was recently reinforced by in the District’s 5-year Strategic Plan. Do you share this position? Why or why not?
I reject this framing as an either/or when we can be focused on providing excellent schools. There is nothing stopping us from making greater investments in our neighborhood schools while embracing a school portfolio that allows us to leverage our diversity as a city. Much of our success as an urban district over the past two decades can be attributed to local control through LSCs, school leadership autonomy, and diverse school options. Schools will not improve by pitting them against each other. We have to address the resource inequities that our neighborhood schools experience, but that comes by helping them and not by hurting other school communities.
What solutions do you propose to provide busing for students at selective enrollment and magnet schools?
It should be easy for kids to get to school and we should ensure we have the bus drivers and efficient routes to maximize bus access. More than busing, I support free access to public transportation for youths and families. We are a first class city and should have a first class public transportation system. Busing is a band-aid solution while we work to build the public transportation system we need.
Please share your thoughts on how the District and the Chicago Teachers Union can settle on a new 4-year contract.
Unfortunately, I think this will be a moot point by the time the new school board is seating. It is clear that our mayor is more interested in landing a shortsighted contract that will put further financial strain on future generations instead of doing the hard work of finding a sustainable contract that provides our teachers the resources they deserve.
In the future, I hope contract provisions can be tied to what impact we hope to see with shared measures and targets for results. I am tired of the we said/they said game every time there is disagreement. Let’s operate from the same facts and see where the chips fall.
In 2024, Chicago Public Schools’ average literacy proficiency rate is 31%, an increase from pre-pandemic years. These rates, however, were lower for students from low-income families, English learners and students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs). How should the district seek to improve literacy rates going forward?
As a former reading teacher who got his students with disabilities and English language learners to proficiency and beyond, our schools are capable of solving this challenge.
This will require investments in early childhood programming coupled with parent partnerships. It will require access to additional professional learning on literacy. It will require more inclusive educational environments where the assets of students drive the instructional model. Finally, it will require more culturally responsive curriculum as outlined in the Black Student Success plan.
The board should support local control for solutions with district-level monitoring, coaching, and access to high quality curricular materials and professional learning for teachers. The board should be tight on targets and flexible on how schools reach them. Schools benefit from strong information systems that help them know what their kids need. When things are not on track, effective districts check in with school teams to provide support and coaching. If the goal of data is to collaborate and learn instead of punish, we could do much to work together to improve reading and math outcomes (along with the arts, sciences, career and technical education, etc).
What is your position on expanded funding and renewal terms for charter schools?
All schools that are serving students well and where kids and parents have positive experiences should have stability and be treated equitably.
I want greater transparency about resources and policy so that we can have an honest conversation about how fairly all of our schools are treated.
The role of the board is to ensure all schools are delivering for kids regardless of the governance model.
There is no call or need to expand charter options.
Please provide your thoughts on how to keep Chicago Public Schools as safe havens for students to learn and flourish fear of violence. How do you propose the district approach this?
As a principal my experience is that schools become safe places when everyone who walks through the doors knows they belongs, feels significant, and experiences joy. We can build upon the whole school safety plan as it prioritizes this approach to building school community.
We must then do more to address bullying, particularly of LGBTQ+, in our schools through bystander education and anonymous reporting.
The more students have agency over their learning and opportunities to connect with their schools through arts, athletics, and clubs the safer they will be.
For the students who need more than that, we need additional counselors and social workers.