The committee meeting in which the Chicago Board of Education determines the topics they will discuss and vote on during their regular monthly meeting has been postponed. A rescheduled date for the committee meeting, which is held a week before the board’s monthly meeting hasn’t been set according to the Chicago Board of Education’s website.
It’s unclear if and when the public meeting, known as the “Agenda Review Committee meeting” will be held before the board’s regular monthly meeting scheduled for Oct. 24. Chicago Public Schools officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The postponed meeting—in which members of the public register to speak and then 30 are selected by lottery to come before the board—is during a tumultuous time within the school district.
Earlier this month, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the current seven-member board would resign. Three days later, he introduced six replacements during a tense press conference. Johnson said he intended for the new board to be seated at the October board meeting.
Without the agenda review meeting, some are worried about what issues the board will vote on next Thursday if a public agenda is not reviewed and voted on by the board prior.
At agenda review meetings, important issues facing the district are hashed out and several days of public comment before the board takes a final vote on the topic. The meetings allow for public participation on policy issues to later be voted on by the board.
At previous agenda review meetings, the board, advocates and city residents have debated critical policy and funding decisions such as aspects of the district’s new education strategies and investments over the next five years and how the security in schools – including employing uniformed police officers – should be addressed. Adopting new names for schools previously named for controversial individuals is also discussed at agenda review committee meetings. After vigorous debate during the agenda review, both items were unanimously voted on at the following board meetings.
Without an agenda review committee meeting, Angel Gutierrez, a school board candidate in District 8, said he’s concerned about being blind-sided by what the new board will vote on. Especially, he said, during a time when Johnson has been vying for current CEO Pedro Martinez’s resignation and encouraging the district to approve a high-interest loan to cover the Chicago Teachers Union’s contract and pension payments.
“Martinez got a vote of confidence from principals and administrators,” Gutierrez said. “Kicking the can down, as we’ve done in previous years, doesn’t address the structural issues within CPS. So [if] both of those things [are] on the agenda, I would be very concerned as someone who’s running on transparency and wanting to have some fiscal stability within the district.”
A postponed agenda review committee, just weeks before city residents vote to elect 10 new school board members, demonstrates a concerning lack of transparency, according to Carlos Rivas, a school board candidate in District 8. It indicates that the mayor is trying to “trick citizens into believing” that he’s doing what’s best for the city, Rivas said.
“The role of the board is a vision based on what the community desires,” Rivas said. “Right now, because the mayor has full control of the board, he’s pushing for his own agenda.”
