Miguel del Valle, who has led Chicago’s Board of Education since 2019, announced he will be leaving his post at the end of this week.
Miguel del Valle
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday announced multiple proposed shifts to the way it handles business, beginning with a shift toward public briefings on board agenda items before well ahead of scheduled votes beginning in May.
Despite a safety agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union that requires universal masking in schools until the end of the academic year, CPS officials on Wednesday said there may come a time sooner in which masks will not be mandatory.
Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday announced that its 20th-day enrollment stands at 330,411 students. That’s a 3% decline from the 340,658 students who were enrolled in the district last year.
The former San Antonio Independent School District superintendent now finds himself leading a district that is struggling to execute contact tracing and COVID-19 testing as students resume in-person learning.
Speaking Wednesday at his first Board of Education meeting since he was appointed as interim Chicago Public Schools CEO, Jose Torres said the district’s “true north” goal before reopening schools must be to make sure at-risk students are prepared to return to CPS.
As Janice Jackson’s tenure with Chicago Public Schools draws to an end, a cavalcade of current and former elected officials sung her praises during what was her final Board of Education meeting as CEO.
Hailing the changes as a “major, major improvement,” the Chicago Board of Education has approved revisions to the student code of conduct, which advise school administrators against contacting police in non-emergency incidents in an attempt to eradicate the school-to-prison pipeline.
Jose Torres, a former Chicago Public Schools official who previously led the second-largest school district in Illinois, will serve as interim CEO once Janice Jackson’s contract expires at the end of June.
Chicago Public Schools is currently the lone district in Illinois with a school board appointed by the mayor. But under legislation approved Tuesday evening by the Illinois Senate, the Chicago Board of Education would transition into a fully elected body by 2027.
Chicago Public School officials say they hope to have a new CEO selected by late July. Miguel del Valle, the head of the Chicago Board of Education, joins us to discuss the process of picking the next chief.
Officials say search process will be the most inclusive in recent history
Chicago Public Schools officials say the district will host dozens of focus groups in the coming months to gather community feedback before making any decision about its next CEO. Current CEO Janice Jackson will be leaving the district when her contract expires at the end of June.
While the final decision on a new Chicago Public Schools CEO is ultimately up to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, she said she doesn’t want to make that decision behind closed doors.
Board President Miguel del Valle on Wednesday said Chicago Public Schools “sincerely wants to come to an agreement” with the Chicago Teachers Union on a safe school reopening plan as a potential teachers strike looms.
After a long holiday weekend, Chicago Public Schools students logged in Tuesday for their first week of remote learning to open the 2020 school year amid the pandemic. The pluses and minuses of week one.
