4111 West 21st Place Chicago, IL 60623 Phone: 773-521-3137 Fax: 773-522-1832

Elected School Board Update

I thank Cliff Kelley for having me as one of his guests last week to speak from the community's perspective on the potential for an elected school board in Chicago. I represented the Lawndale Alliance. Other guests for that segment included Rikki Jones, the Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Women, and Crystal Williams. Crystal is a parent of a student who attended Price Elementary School in the Austin area. We had a very good discussion. Rikki was very concerned that we need to do more than have an advisory referendum on the ballot, as the laws regarding the structure of the CPS board are changed in Springfield. I agreed, but did indicate that several groups around the City of Chicago, have collected a total of 15,000 signatures in hopes to see the referenda on the ballot asking voters if they thought the City of Chicago should have an elected school board. If all goes well voters from selected precincts in 26 Wards around the City of Chicago will have an opportunity to weigh in on the discussion. While the referenda are not binding, the fact that we have collected 15,000 signatures from people who are supportive of an elected school board speaks very loudly. The impact will be multiplied in November, which is expected to have a higher turnout than the last election because it's the Presidential election. I also shared the fact that Representative La Shawn K Ford has introduced HB 5727 to set up a task force to make recommendations for the optimal structure of the Chicago Public Schools board. Crystal expressed concern that the current board members don't listen to parents. She also shared how Price Elementary School was closed over the objection of parents. She shared statistics that indicated that a Tribune poll taken last year revealed that 77% of Chicagoans want to see an elected school board. Cliff Kelley moderated the discussion and shared a wealth of knowledge from his days as an alderman, pushing the idea of an elected school board. He indicated that a number of candidates for Mayor support the idea of an elected school board until they are actually elected. The Chicago Public Schools has a budget of over $5.7 billion and has 655 schools, 408,600 students and 44,417 employees. No Mayor is going to give away that kind of power without a fight. Cliff Kelley closed the session by asking us to keep him informed of our progress. The Lawndale Alliance will be working with PACE to host 3 public meetings on an elected school board during the months of September and October. We will share details shortly. A link to HB 5727 is found at http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5727&GAID=11&GA=97&DocTypeID=HB&L egID=66208&SessionID=84 Respectfully submitted,

Valerie F. Leonard Co-Founder, Lawndale Alliance

We Made the Ballot!

24th Ward Residents will now have the opportunity to weigh in on the question as to whether the City of Chicago should have an elected school board during the November Presidential Election!!! God is awesome! We thank everyone who made this happen. Vote Yes in November: Should the City of Chicago have an elected school board?