Education

Chicago Board of Education Committee Meeting Postponed Amid Member Turnover

(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

A committee meeting this week that was set to be the first since Chicago’s full Board of Education membership resigned and was then replaced by new appointees has been postponed.

The board’s monthly agenda review committee meeting, which had been scheduled for Wednesday morning, will not be held as planned, Chicago Public Schools announced over the weekend.

“As soon as a date has been determined, we will share the information,” the district said in a social media post Sunday.

That announcement comes just days after all seven board members revealed they’d be stepping down from their positions. Mayor Brandon Johnson then announced six new board appointees last week.

Those resignations came amid ongoing strife between Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez following squabbles over finances, possible future school closures and the district’s ongoing contract negotiations with Johnson’s former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union.

The new members include: former local school council chair Frank Niles Thomas; the Rev. Mitchell L. Ikenna Johnson; Southeast Environmental Task Force Executive Director Olga Bautista; Michilla “Kyla” Blaise, who serves as chief of staff for 16th District Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar; West Side community activist Mary Gardner; and former CPS teacher and ex-CTU member Deborah Pope.

While Johnson has sole authority to appoint members to the board, he said last week that those six remained nominees while they continued undergoing a vetting process before they could be officially appointed to the board.

The mayor said the plan was to have them all in place before the board’s regular monthly meeting on Oct. 24.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431

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