Latest news with #ChicagoPublicSchools'
CBS News
15-05-2025
- CBS News
Former Lincoln Park High School principal and assistant principal removed from CPS "do not hire" list
Months after an inspector general's report found allegations against them were mishandled, a former principal and assistant principal at Lincoln Park High School have been removed from the Chicago Public Schools' "do not hire" list. Former principal John Thuet and assistant principal Michelle Brumfield were fired in 2020, accused of mishandling claims of sexual misconduct. In December 2024, the Office of Inspector General for Chicago Public Schools determined the case against them was mishandled, and improperly conducted "off-the-books. The pair later petitioned to be removed from the district's "do not hire" list. CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez granted their request this week, making them eligible to work for the school district again. In January and February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted schools to remote learning for more than a year, Lincoln Park High School was embroiled in a headline-grabbing scandal that lasted weeks. It started with a complaint about an unauthorized boys' varsity basketball team overnight trip to Detroit in December 2019. After the trip, Thuet sent a letter to parents saying the "overnight trip over winter break… was not a school-sponsored event. An investigation followed, and Thuet and Brumfield were removed from their positions. The basketball coach and dean of the school were also reassigned, and as the school put it, "the remainder of the varsity boys' basketball season has been suspended until further notice." More complaints followed, including claims of sexual misconduct within the athletics department and retaliation by other students. Thuet and Brumfield have maintained from the beginning that they reported all of the claims of sexual misconduct and other wrongdoing to the CPS Office of Student Protections as required by the district. After the pair were fired, angry parents complained that CPS was not forthcoming with facts about the allegations against them. Meantime, students walked out of the school in protest, calling for Thuet and Brumfield to be reinstated and taking issue with the cancellation of the basketball season. Protests against Thuet and Brumfield's termination took over the halls of Lincoln Park High School and CPS board meetings. It took four years for the CPS inspector general to investigate and publish a report that was overwhelmingly critical of the Office of Student Protections and CPS. It noted an incredible conflict of interest, saying part of the Office of Student Protections' investigation into the matter started because of allegations made by a student whose mother actually ran that very office. The Inspector General called the investigation "off-the-books," which "seems to have affected the terminations of Thuet and Brumfield—each of whom were supposedly fired because of misconduct." Thuet and Brumfield have said they still don't know why they were fired in the first place. It's unclear if they'll seek to work for CPS again. The video above is from an earlier report.
Chicago Tribune
15-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Paul Vallas: Two years in, Mayor Brandon Johnson's rhetoric doesn't match reality
Mayor Brandon Johnson's first two years in office can best be described as delusional. Even from a progressive perspective, there is a glaring disconnect between his rhetoric and reality. Johnson has declared his tenure the most accomplished of any mayor in Chicago history and claims the city is now a national model for building a worker-centered, safe and affordable city. But his proudest accomplishments amount to little more than a progressive Potemkin village. For example, he opened just three of 12 mental health facilities closed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. His reestablished Department of Environment is an office with a few staff members and no real authority or resources. Johnson's flagship initiative — a $1.25 billion bond program — is a continuation of the city practice of bonding for capital investments. His 'Green Social Housing' ordinance is a small low-interest loan program and no substitute for a serious affordable housing policy. These checkbox initiatives, among others, are designed more for optics than substance. Despite his rhetoric, Johnson has done little to confront the city's mounting problems. Instead, he resorts to playing the race card to explain the challenges he inherited and his own failures to address them. As Johnson completes his second year, what is his record? And what is the real state of the city? Finances Johnson or his administration has done nothing to address the financial storm engulfing the city, schools and public transit system — each faces historic deficits in the coming year. The city projects a budget shortfall exceeding $1 billion. The new teachers contract pushes Chicago Public Schools' deficit to more than $800 million, and the CTA faces a $600 million revenue shortfall. Meanwhile, the mayor's backing of a $1.5 billion contract with the Chicago Teachers Union makes it virtually impossible to balance either the city or CPS budget without major tax hikes. Taxes While the City Council blocked a property tax hike, the mayor's school board has increased property taxes each year. Voters resoundingly rejected Johnson's proposed increase in the real estate transfer tax, yet he continues to advocate for other campaign tax proposals, including a city income tax, a head tax on employers and a financial transaction tax. Chicago already leads major cities in property and sales taxes and fees, and our commercial property tax burden is among the highest in the nation. The new $1.5 billion CTU contract almost guarantees annual property tax hikes but adds no instructional time or accountability measures. The mayor's hand-picked school board has effectively reinstated social promotion and eliminated any meaningful accountability for underperforming students, schools or teachers. The contract also undermines successful public school alternatives for low-income families such as public charter and magnet schools. Police staffing remains 1,700 officers below pre-COVID-19 levels, in part due to the mayor's elimination of 833 positions. While homicides and shootings have declined nationally since the pandemic, Chicago has until this year ranked near the bottom of large cities in homicide reduction. Overall, violent crime remains above pre-pandemic levels and is likely underreported, given the decline in high-priority 911 responses since 2019. The mayor's economic policy has focused on growing the public sector and expanding subsidies through public-private partnerships, rather than fostering a business-friendly environment. Johnson fulfilled a promise to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers — a policy that imposes a costly, unfunded mandate on small and midsize businesses. Johnson and his administration have no coherent affordable housing strategy. The administration has failed to leverage tools such as tax abatements, reactivation of vacant properties or creation of opportunity zones to combat disinvestment or gentrification. Johnson's promise to 'cut the tape' has amounted to little more than bureaucratic reshuffling with no substantive outcomes. The CTA faces a huge deficit next year and needs to restore ridership to pre-COVID-19 levels to avoid deep service cuts. That requires that the CTA become significantly safer. Yet the mayor-controlled CTA continues to spend money on private, unarmed security. That money could increase the number of Chicago police officers assigned to the CTA by 500. Currently, the CTA has just over 100 police officers dedicated to transit — roughly the same as the mayor's own security detail. Johnson has fully embraced Chicago's sanctuary city status, largely refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement while offering aid to migrants, including emergency housing, medical care, legal services and de facto protection from immigration authorities. The city has spent more than $600 million on migrant services. Johnson has failed to advance a single piece of anti-corruption legislation. He has clashed with City Council ethics chair Ald. Matt Martin and Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, who accused his administration of building 'brick walls' against oversight and transparency. In two years, little of substance has been done to address Chicago's mounting challenges. Look to the mayor to continue refusing to take responsibility for anything — preferring to deflect, gaslight and race-bait instead. Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran against Johnson for Chicago mayor in 2023 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Department of Education investigating Evanston-Skokie District 65 over ‘privilege walks'
EVANSTON, Ill. — The US Department of Education announced they are investigating Evanston-Skokie District 65 over alleged racial discrimination and 'privilege walks.' The department alleges District 65 violated the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The investigation stems from drama teacher Dr. Stacy Deemar's two complaints. The complaints allege that District 65 engages in racial segregation and stereotyping through 'privilege walks' and district-sponsored segregated affinity groups. Privilege walks is a practice where students step forward when answering 'yes' to certain questions and step back when answering 'no.' It looks at social privileges that benefit some people over others, according to Kiwanis. 'The policies and practices to which the District allegedly subjects students and teachers shocks the conscience. Amid a dismal academic achievement record, the District appears to focus on unlawfully segregating students by race, instructing students to step forward and others to step back on the basis of race, and associating 'whiteness' with the devil. If true, how is this conceivable in America today?' said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. Investigation launched into Chicago Public Schools' Black Student Success Plan Trump's Department of Education is also investigating Chicago Public Schools' over their Black Student Success Plan. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates called the investigation 'baseless.' WGN News reached out to District 65 for a statement and have not heard back at this time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The lasting impact of Trump's immigration crackdown on CPS students
When President Donald Trump took office and declared Chicago 'ground zero' for the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, Alma Duran, 43, said her 10-year-old twins asked why their classes at an elementary school in Pilsen were deserted. She told them some kids and parents were scared to come in for fear of getting detained and deported, and she explained the concept of the United States border to her children for the first time — that they were born in Chicago and had documents that some of their classmates might not have. 'And even then, my kids were like, 'How is this possible? How can they be so afraid that they don't even want to come to school? … Mommy, you always say going to school is good. How is it not good now for some friends?'' Duran remembered them asking her. Trump's hard-line immigration policy has taken a deep emotional toll on communities with large undocumented populations. And though attendance at Perez has slowly recovered in the months since Trump took office, fear and anxiety linger among parents, teachers and students at some Chicago public schools. Data obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that attendance rates fell at all schools across the district the week of Jan. 20, when the 47th president was sworn in. Over 50% of students attending the 10 schools that experienced the biggest attendance drops are Latino, according to enrollment data on the district's website. The names of the schools are being withheld at Chicago Public Schools' request, out of concern for potential retaliation from the federal government. While the district has taken steps to respond, parents and those working with students describe the effect of Trump's immigration policy changes as insurmountable. It will likely have long-term effects, they say. Students carry a heavy burden worrying about whether their parents will be swept up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meanwhile, the counseling support they need to relieve their worry is spread thin, said Roy, a teacher at a South Side elementary school whose last name is not being used out of safety concerns for his students. 'We do have counselors, but they don't speak Spanish,' he said. 'That's a resource that a lot of schools need now, especially with newcomers.' CPS did not respond to a request for comment. Headlines about young U.S. citizens being deported by ICE have trickled into school settings, said Ana Espitia, a local school council member and crossing guard at an elementary school in Little Village, a neighborhood known for its strong Mexican American culture. One migrant kindergartner has repeatedly come to school in tears, worried immigration officials might arrest his mom or dad, and that he wouldn't see them again, Espitia said. 'A lot of times, kids use being sick as an excuse. They say they have a headache, or their stomach hurts,' Espitia said. In some cases, students are bullying each other, saying they hope Trump will deport the other, according to Rocio Becerril, an immigration attorney who is an authorized vendor with CPS. She referenced an 11-year-old who died from suicide in Texas amid deportation rumors at school. 'This anti-immigrant sentiment is (likely) coming from their parents,' Becerril surmised. 'But for that information to get to them is disheartening.' Becerril leads Know Your Rights presentations to CPS parents and said that in recent weeks, fewer people have attended those sessions. 'People just curl up and pull away,' she said. 'There's so much information out there, and there's so much misinformation.' Parents recounted a significant psychological effect on their kids at a Back of the Yards elementary school where two U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials tried to enter on the Friday after Trump's inauguration. The district sparked a panic when it falsely proclaimed ICE agents had tried to enter the building. 'They're going to deport everyone who has our skin color,' an Ecuadorian migrant student, Aaron, said to his mom, Mary, at dismissal outside the school three days later, as she quieted his nerves. Roy, the teacher at the South Side elementary school, teaches a class of all bilingual second-grade students, many of whom stayed home the last two weeks of January, which began with Trump's inauguration. It was unusual, he said, because before those weeks, his students had almost perfect attendance. And it coincided with standardized testing, he said. A Tribune review of CPS attendance data at Roy's school confirmed his account. 'It was definitely difficult for teachers to continue instruction as normal,' he said. 'It's not something that these (students) should be worried about. … They should be focused on their learning.' There are students in his classroom from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, and he said they are 'resilient.' He tries to maintain routines and positivity with their families. The district does not track the citizenship status of its students because federal law states that all children in the United States, including immigrants, have the right to a public education. CPS officials attributed the decline in attendance on Jan. 22, after the four-day weekend, to concerns about immigration enforcement across the city, while recognizing other factors, such as unusually cold weather, illness and transportation barriers. Attendance at schools that experienced the biggest drop in the first week has steadily returned to a normal range, according to the data obtained by the Tribune. Outside a high school in Little Village on a recent afternoon in April, Kimberly Atencia confirmed that she kept her son home during the first two weeks of Trump's presidency. Atencia, who is from Colombia, said the school serves a large population of migrants who arrived on buses from the southern border in August 2022. The school had one of the highest attendance drops. It experienced a roughly 20% decline in average attendance rates between the week before and after Trump was inaugurated. The same weeks in previous years did not experience the same fluctuation, data shows. 'The numbers here have mostly returned to normal,' Atencia said. 'But immigration enforcement activity in the area still sometimes makes people stay indoors.' In April, such immigration enforcement acts included emailed notices from the Department of Homeland Security instructing migrants to leave the U.S. or 'the government will find you,' numerous asylum-seekers told the Tribune. The notices state that DHS is exercising its discretion to terminate parole, a form of legal entry that was expanded under the administration of former President Joe Biden. They were sent to individuals, including U.S. citizens, seemingly without reason, said Nubia Willman, former deputy chief of staff and director of the Office of New Americans under ex-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The notices have caused some people to self-deport, Willman said. 'Because everyone's situation is different, it's important folks get a consultation from a licensed attorney or accredited representative to make sure they are making decisions based on facts,' she said. To help families with CPS students who received notices cope with an overwhelming amount of uncertainty, Juan Carlos Ocon, the principal of a high school in Pilsen, sent an email reviewed by the Tribune to his student body on April 15, urging his school's community to continue to 'lead with empathy and support.' 'If your student or someone in your family has received this letter … please inform me immediately,' he wrote. 'I will personally meet with the student/family and ensure they are connected with an attorney who can help them understand their rights and navigate the process.' Asked for comment, Ocon did not respond. The district is taking proactive measures to make sure schools are 'safe places,' where fear is left at the door, said Bianca Ramos, senior mental health consultant at Lurie's Children Hospital's Center for Childhood Resilience. She partners with the CPS Office of Social Emotional Learning to lead trainings for school counselors, clinicians and other staff members who directly work with kids. Schools reach out to parents proactively, rather than waiting for families to come to them, Ramos said. They've adjusted their signage and provided virtual and other more flexible scheduling options for classes. 'When we talk to kids, we make sure that they're limiting their media exposure or speaking to trusted adults so that they can get the resources and the support that they need,' she said. Nonprofit organizations and other groups have also stepped in, but say that more needs to be done. Children don't often have the language to express their anxieties, said Silvia Rodriguez Vega, author of 'Drawing Deportation: Art and Resistance Among Immigrant Children.' Vega spent 10 years researching immigrant children in Arizona and California to provide accounts of children's challenges with deportation under previous presidential administrations. She suggested that schools provide more art-making opportunities for immigrant students. All children are naturally creative, she said, but those from low-income families often lack access to various art forms. 'Art can be literally a lifeline when they face a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear, like many children currently do,' Vega said. In January, ICE visited the apartment complex where Rossyel Ward, a migrant from Venezuela, has settled in Chicago, she said. She wasn't home at the time, but said she heard from her neighbors, who are also migrants. She has two kids who attend an elementary school in Pilsen, and although she was terrified, she sent them to school anyway. 'I can't pass that fear on to my children,' she said. 'It would stay with them.' Under Trump, she said, she 'feels the authoritarianism in a different way' than what she experienced in Venezuela under the government of President Nicolás Maduro. She joined a parent mentor group at her kids' school that she said gives her strength. They reach out to other migrant families who are scared. 'You can't really form an opinion based on the politics of the government that's receiving you — you just have to adjust to it,' she said. 'As migrants, we have to make do.'
Chicago Tribune
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
The lasting impact of Trump's immigration crackdown on CPS students
When President Donald Trump took office and declared Chicago 'ground zero' for the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, Alma Duran, 43, said her 10-year-old twins asked why their classes at an elementary school in Pilsen were deserted. She told them some kids and parents were scared to come in for fear of getting detained and deported, and she explained the concept of the United States border to her children for the first time — that they were born in Chicago and had documents that some of their classmates might not have. 'And even then, my kids were like, 'How is this possible? How can they be so afraid that they don't even want to come to school? … Mommy, you always say going to school is good. How is it not good now for some friends?'' Duran remembered them asking her. Trump's hard-line immigration policy has taken a deep emotional toll on communities with large undocumented populations. And though attendance at Perez has slowly recovered in the months since Trump took office, fear and anxiety linger among parents, teachers and students at some Chicago public schools. Data obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that attendance rates fell at all schools across the district the week of Jan. 20, when the 47th president was sworn in. Over 50% of students attending the 10 schools that experienced the biggest attendance drops are Latino, according to enrollment data on the district's website. The names of the schools are being withheld at Chicago Public Schools' request, out of concern for potential retaliation from the federal government. While the district has taken steps to respond, parents and those working with students describe the effect of Trump's immigration policy changes as insurmountable. It will likely have long-term effects, they say. Students carry a heavy burden worrying about whether their parents will be swept up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meanwhile, the counseling support they need to relieve their worry is spread thin, said Roy, a teacher at a South Side elementary school whose last name is not being used out of safety concerns for his students. 'We do have counselors, but they don't speak Spanish,' he said. 'That's a resource that a lot of schools need now, especially with newcomers.' CPS did not respond to a request for comment. Emotional toll Headlines about young U.S. citizens being deported by ICE have trickled into school settings, said Ana Espitia, a local school council member and crossing guard at an elementary school in Little Village, a neighborhood known for its strong Mexican American culture. One migrant kindergartner has repeatedly come to school in tears, worried immigration officials might arrest his mom or dad, and that he wouldn't see them again, Espitia said. 'A lot of times, kids use being sick as an excuse. They say they have a headache, or their stomach hurts,' Espitia said. In some cases, students are bullying each other, saying they hope Trump will deport the other, according to Rocio Becerril, an immigration attorney who is an authorized vendor with CPS. She referenced an 11-year-old who died from suicide in Texas amid deportation rumors at school. 'This anti-immigrant sentiment is (likely) coming from their parents,' Becerril surmised. 'But for that information to get to them is disheartening.' Becerril leads Know Your Rights presentations to CPS parents and said that in recent weeks, fewer people have attended those sessions. 'People just curl up and pull away,' she said. 'There's so much information out there, and there's so much misinformation.' Inauguration Day Parents recounted a significant psychological effect on their kids at a Back of the Yards elementary school where two U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials tried to enter on the Friday after Trump's inauguration. The district sparked a panic when it falsely proclaimed ICE agents had tried to enter the building. 'They're going to deport everyone who has our skin color,' an Ecuadorian migrant student, Aaron, said to his mom, Mary, at dismissal outside the school three days later, as she quieted his nerves. Roy, the teacher at the South Side elementary school, teaches a class of all bilingual second-grade students, many of whom stayed home the last two weeks of January, which began with Trump's inauguration. It was unusual, he said, because before those weeks, his students had almost perfect attendance. And it coincided with standardized testing, he said. A Tribune review of CPS attendance data at Roy's school confirmed his account. 'It was definitely difficult for teachers to continue instruction as normal,' he said. 'It's not something that these (students) should be worried about. … They should be focused on their learning.' There are students in his classroom from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, and he said they are 'resilient.' He tries to maintain routines and positivity with their families. The district does not track the citizenship status of its students because federal law states that all children in the United States, including immigrants, have the right to a public education. CPS officials attributed the decline in attendance on Jan. 22, after the four-day weekend, to concerns about immigration enforcement across the city, while recognizing other factors, such as unusually cold weather, illness and transportation barriers. Attendance at schools that experienced the biggest drop in the first week has steadily returned to a normal range, according to the data obtained by the Tribune. Ongoing concerns Outside a high school in Little Village on a recent afternoon in April, Kimberly Atencia confirmed that she kept her son home during the first two weeks of Trump's presidency. Atencia, who is from Colombia, said the school serves a large population of migrants who arrived on buses from the southern border in August 2022. The school had one of the highest attendance drops. It experienced a roughly 20% decline in average attendance rates between the week before and after Trump was inaugurated. The same weeks in previous years did not experience the same fluctuation, data shows. 'The numbers here have mostly returned to normal,' Atencia said. 'But immigration enforcement activity in the area still sometimes makes people stay indoors.' In April, such immigration enforcement acts included emailed notices from the Department of Homeland Security instructing migrants to leave the U.S. or 'the government will find you,' numerous asylum-seekers told the Tribune. The notices state that DHS is exercising its discretion to terminate parole, a form of legal entry that was expanded under the administration of former President Joe Biden. They were sent to individuals, including U.S. citizens, seemingly without reason, said Nubia Willman, former deputy chief of staff and director of the Office of New Americans under ex-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The notices have caused some people to self-deport, Willman said. 'Because everyone's situation is different, it's important folks get a consultation from a licensed attorney or accredited representative to make sure they are making decisions based on facts,' she said. To help families with CPS students who received notices cope with an overwhelming amount of uncertainty, Juan Carlos Ocon, the principal of a high school in Pilsen, sent an email reviewed by the Tribune to his student body on April 15, urging his school's community to continue to 'lead with empathy and support.' 'If your student or someone in your family has received this letter … please inform me immediately,' he wrote. 'I will personally meet with the student/family and ensure they are connected with an attorney who can help them understand their rights and navigate the process.' Asked for comment, Ocon did not respond. Quelling grief and anxiety The district is taking proactive measures to make sure schools are 'safe places,' where fear is left at the door, said Bianca Ramos, senior mental health consultant at Lurie's Children Hospital's Center for Childhood Resilience. She partners with the CPS Office of Social Emotional Learning to lead trainings for school counselors, clinicians and other staff members who directly work with kids. Schools reach out to parents proactively, rather than waiting for families to come to them, Ramos said. They've adjusted their signage and provided virtual and other more flexible scheduling options for classes. 'When we talk to kids, we make sure that they're limiting their media exposure or speaking to trusted adults so that they can get the resources and the support that they need,' she said. Nonprofit organizations and other groups have also stepped in, but say that more needs to be done. Children don't often have the language to express their anxieties, said Silvia Rodriguez Vega, author of 'Drawing Deportation: Art and Resistance Among Immigrant Children.' Vega spent 10 years researching immigrant children in Arizona and California to provide accounts of children's challenges with deportation under previous presidential administrations. She suggested that schools provide more art-making opportunities for immigrant students. All children are naturally creative, she said, but those from low-income families often lack access to various art forms. 'Art can be literally a lifeline when they face a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear, like many children currently do,' Vega said. In January, ICE visited the apartment complex where Rossyel Ward, a migrant from Venezuela, has settled in Chicago, she said. She wasn't home at the time, but said she heard from her neighbors, who are also migrants. She has two kids who attend an elementary school in Pilsen, and although she was terrified, she sent them to school anyway. 'I can't pass that fear on to my children,' she said. 'It would stay with them.' Under Trump, she said, she 'feels the authoritarianism in a different way' than what she experienced in Venezuela under the government of President Nicolás Maduro. She joined a parent mentor group at her kids' school that she said gives her strength. They reach out to other migrant families who are scared. 'You can't really form an opinion based on the politics of the government that's receiving you — you just have to adjust to it,' she said. 'As migrants, we have to make do.'
