Academics
About 31% of Chicago Public Schools elementary students are meeting state standards in reading, and 19% are meeting math standards. How would you approach growing reading and math achievement?*
Literacy is first. Strong literacy skills, I believe, are the building blocks for all other subjects, including math. Our curriculums must take a more focused, less rushed approached toward teaching, testing, and ensuring every student, every student has what they need to be proficient in reading. This may mean re-thinking how literacy is taught for some. This may mean more reading options for students to choose from. This may mean creating courses that give students some autonomy over what they want to read to help empower them to WANT to read and try. I think this approach will carry over to stronger scores in Math, though much more will be needed to improve our Math proficiency scores. Khan Academy YouTube videos helped me. Helping students find new ways to study and learn is key for math. Strong teachers, lower class room sizes is also super important in a math class setting.
Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
No. Standardized testing is important but not the only metric to measure student success. As a board member, I would be interested in other additional metrics or methods to measure student comprehension and understanding. Not all CPS students are the same. CPS has kinesthetic learners, also known as tactile learners, who learn best through physical activity and whole-body movement. CPS has auditory learners who learn best by listening and speaking. CPS has visual learners who do best with visual aids like charts, diagrams, and other visual tools. We must cater performance metrics to all types of CPS students.
Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
No. I think the answer to this depends on what those curriculum models are; how specific are those prescribed curriculum models (i.e., are we talking subjects to cover or specific books to teach from); and how many curriculum models schools will have to choose from (are we talking 5 or 50). These follow up questions matter because while I’m onboard with the board setting a relative direction for schools (based on curriculum criteria that is imperative for students to know is X grade level to best prepare them for the criteria we know they’re going to need for Grade Y), I am NOT OK with controlling what our kids learn.
Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
I am currently serving in a local school council capacity at the Wilma Rudolph Learning Center. While I would have to forgo this position if elected onto the board, I am very much still engaged and keeping with my promise to support the Center for the time being (if elected). Special education is often overlooked. I think there is a lot we in society still don’t know or appreciate about this area of education and this student population more generally. I hope my time serving as an LSC member for Wilma Rudolph Learning Center will help me begin understanding the complexities, obstacles, and needs in this area. I hope to bring those insights onto the board thereafter.
CPS finances
In recent years, Chicago’s Board of Education has consistently raised the property tax levy to the maximum allowed by state law every year. Should the board continue to raise the levy to the maximum?
No. I think the tax levy should ONLY be raised in two instances: (1) to keep up with inflation (higher pricing for goods, thus those goods eating more into the CPS budget) at a rate that DOES NOT exceed that inflation threshold metric and (2) in extraordinary resources of last resort (some instance to where the community is likely to be onboard with the increase anyways because they too understand and can appreciate the severe need and unforeseen circumstances at play). Outside these instances, the CPS Board must be charged with proper budget management, proper spending, and looking into alternative ways of funding.
Do you think CPS needs more funding, or do you think the school district’s budget is bloated? How would you balance the CPS budget?*
Both. I think CPS needs to continue to find alternative ways to sustaining its ever growing budget on account of inflation, population, and a number of other outside factors driving up costs and thus budget numbers. That said, I think the way CPS spends MUST be thoughtful, it MUST never become so passive that we as a District become susceptible to over paying on goods and services. I think a lot of times, CPS sticks with a contracting company for infrastructure services or publishing houses for books out of familiarity rather than what I think is needed — a thoughtful and balanced assessment comparing the quality of the work or product promised and the bargain at which CPS is getting that service/product for. CPS should try to receive a healthy number of quotes for services or products before selecting one out of familiarity, absent some critical time crunch or health/safety/welfare need for students to where time is of the essence.
School choice
Do you support the current board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools and shift away from the current system of school choice with selective enrollment, magnet and charter schools?
Yes. My answer is yes, I support the board’s recent decision of prioritizing neighborhood schools. I disagree with the latter half of this reader’s question, which seems to infer that the premise (increase spending on neighborhood schools, which is long overdue) is inherently linked to shifting money away from “school choice with selective enrollment, magnet, and charter schools.” Magnet and selective enrollment schools are so important at CPS, and I don’t believe we should be diverting money away from them. I am also onboard with charter schools and contract schools because I appreciate diversity of thought and learning.
Given the board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools, how would you balance supporting those schools without undermining the city’s selective enrollment schools and other specialized programs?*
Very good question. Overtime, I think the new funding model will build back trust with parents who may down the line begin trusting in their neighborhood schools again, naturally reducing the number of charter schools (market equilibrium will favor neighborhood schools I suspect). If this does occur, I imagine the budgetary concerns between neighborhood schools and selective enrollment schools or magnet schools will be lessened by the likely natural market shift in the need/number of charter schools, thus shifting the funds from those existing charter schools (whose attendance significantly dropped on account of parent trust in neighborhood schools increasing — thus increasing pool of available funds). As for right now, CPS must leverage its purchasing power and bid contractors for certain services (like infrastructure) against each other to ensure the same quality service at a lower market price based on sheer competition.
The first charter school opened in Chicago in 1997 and these privately run, publicly funded schools grew in number throughout the 2000s. Today, 54,000 Chicago Public Schools students, or about 17%, attend charters and contract schools. Do you support having charter schools in CPS as an option for students?
Yes. I support parents right to choose the best education and curriculum for their student(s). While I believe in increasing funding for neighborhood schools because of the longstanding inequities that have resulted from the latter funding model, I also believe in free markets (if you will) and if parents and communities are all supporting this particular school or program (be that a charter school or contract school) who are we (the board) to stop that from happening. That said, I do believe investing in neighborhood schools may inevitably lower the need or number of charter schools due to increased trust in N.S.
Independence
If elected, how will you maintain your independence from the mayor’s office, the Chicago Teachers Union or other powerful forces shaping the school system?*
Firstly, if elected, my job will be to act in the best interest of our CPS students. And I very much plan on doing my job. As for ensuring independence from arguably influential entities (as this reader seems to be pointing toward) such as the Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) or the Mayor’s Office, here is what I’ll say. Maintaining independence from CTU influence will be super easy for me given I think CTU is currently trying to kick me off the ballot. Trust me when I say I will have no issue keeping a healthy and productive distance from CTU as to sustain my independence. Also, I’ve never met Mayor Brandon Johnson or know anyone in his office to my knowledge, so I don’t foresee such conflicts arising. I also work outside of the political realm and education system (formally) which further safeguards me from any improprieties or conflicts. My work as an attorney is in defense litigation and do not work with CPS or its affiliates.
Police in schools
Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
No. I am not opposed to having CPD stationed in schools if the leadership in those schools (parents, principles, and teachers) think it makes sense to have them there. I also think if those same leaders at another school or in another district do not believe that law enforcement presence is necessary or helpful, then I too believe we should afford that school in that district to choose what’s best for it. It is OK for the board to trust in its leaders that actually have their boots on the ground. It’s okay for the board to not try to control every detail and trust in parents, communities, faculty, and others more.
Busing and facilities
Last year, in an effort to prioritize transportation for students with disabilities as required by state and federal law, CPS canceled busing for general education students who attend selective enrollment and magnet schools and hasn’t found a solution to reinstate that service. Do you support busing for general education students?
Yes. We must find a way to fix this logistical nightmare for the sake of Chicago’s parents and students. These students worked and studied hard to make it into these schools and programs, and their efforts and performance at these schools further bolsters CPS’s numbers on the national stage — the least we can do is help make sure they have a safe ride to school and a ride back home. Let’s make things easier for parents and students. That’s our job.
About one-third of Chicago public school buildings have space for at least double the students they’re currently enrolling. Chicago officials have previously viewed under-enrolled schools as an inefficient use of limited resources — and a decade ago the city closed a record 50 schools. Do you support closing schools for low enrollment?
No. I do not believe low enrollment should be the metric used in determining whether to keep a school or open or close it. I think if a school has low enrollment, we MUST look at a 5, 10, 15 year model of what that schools student population figures were at in each of those years. The historic data of any school will tell us its story and how that school got to this point. Now, if a schools population was significantly down because a huge government office was built, eminent domain was invoked, and now there is genuinely a lower # of residents nearby — it may make sense to consider closing it. The data is key.
Bilingual education
CPS has long struggled to comply with state and federal laws requiring bilingual programs at schools that enroll 20 or more students who speak a different language. The recent influx of migrant families has exacerbated the problem. What policies do you support to ensure the district is supporting bilingual students and in compliance with state and federal laws?
I think CPS should leverage the current position it finds itself in to lobby and generate traction for its need of additional funding at both the Department of Education and the State of Illinois policy levels to ensure the District can remain in compliance of state and federal laws as well as have the remaining funding necessary to sustain the inevitable high costs of running America’s third largest public school district. I think we can turn this seemingly scary obstacle into one that’s positive (more funding). But money doesn’t solve the problem, what happens next, I think, is key. And that is recognizing the commodity that is the bilingual (Spanish-English) teacher market, and paying a premium to attract more Spanish speaking teachers across America to Chicago to help make our classrooms more efficient, equitable and easily transparent for all of its students.
Top local issue
Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
Better neighborhood high schools. While I can appreciate how my District, and others, would like to see new schools (in our case, high schools) be built to solve this need, I just don’t think that’s in the budget. The fixed costs of starting a school from scratch may be too high for a 2025 budget that is already facing a significant deficit. But that does not mean we cannot re-shape, and re-build from within the structure, curriculum, and resources necessary to revamp our West Side high schools in a major way. I want to make sure parents in District 5 no longer fear the scenario of their child having to resort to their neighborhood high school if they don’t test into one of CPS’s selective enrollment or magnet schools. I think the new finding metric will help and support this initiative to build up our current high schools, and with a little TLC from us in the community, I think we could really make a difference.