Chicago Politics

Sustainable Community Schools Announcement 8.4.25

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Sustainable Community Schools Announcement.

Transcript

4:41 Good morning, Ms. Anderson. Good morning. Good morning. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, sir. No, sir. My name is Alicia Anderson. I'm an incoming freshman, but I have graduated from Fort Dearborn Elementary School. As I look back on my time being a student at Fort

5:15 Dearborn, I have been given many opportunities to voice what I think my school should look like. Fort Dearborn has hosted many student-led events that give students the opportunity to voice what a healthy school should look like. SES is important because it gives schools the opportunity to put their students first. SES has a purpose to create healthier and safer school environments for schools all around Chicago. As I look back on the work that I have done with SES, I have given my opinion, I have put mental health in a classroom, and I have been sure what a safe school environment

5:47 should look like. I'm glad that our mayor supports the work that SES is doing, and I'm introducing him at this time. Mayor Brandon Johnson, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Alicia Anderson, and let me just say I have never memorized any of my speeches, so let me see if I can do this here. No, I'm not doing that. Thank you, Alicia, for that introduction, and good morning, everyone.

6:20 Good morning. It is so great to join you all today. I want to thank a few people, our Chicago Public Schools CEO, Dr. Macklin Keene, Chicago Teachers Union President, Stacy Davis-Gates, Journey for Justice, Alliance National Director and a representative on the Chicago Board of Education, District 5A, Mr. G2 Brown and all the elected officials that I hear and all the principals, teachers, students, parents, community leaders that are joining us here this morning. When we talk about public education in Chicago, it

6:54 is very personal for me. It's personal not just because I am the first mayor in modern history of this beloved city to actually send my three children to our public schools. But it's also personal to me because I understand that public education at the expense of the state, after all, is a Negro idea. I can say unequivocally that I have personal stake in the success of our school district. What I want for my children is exactly the same thing that I want for every single child across this city. But it's also

7:28 personal because I taught in our public schools. I didn't read about it in the newspaper. I saw our school communities experience the highs and lows firsthand. I saw how the challenge was cumbersome for our high school students. It's what they faced on the west side of Chicago. ago. The biggest obstacle wasn't trigonometry. They weren't worried about what year the Declaration

8:02 of Independence was signed. Their biggest concern wasn't the quiz that morning. They were worried about getting home safely that day. They were worried about their little brothers and sisters. They were thinking about where they would sleep at night. That That was more than a decade ago, and our message has not changed because the problems have not all been solved. Back then, we said the only way we're going to truly transform our public school system in Chicago is by serving the entire child.

8:34 We are never going to make any real progress until we reckon with the fact that the struggles of our students primarily result in the fact that 72% of students are from low-income families. The overwhelming majority of our students are black and brown, and they come from poor and working-class communities. Until we start to bring the community into our schools, in fact, until our schools become community hubs in every single neighborhood, we will not see real transformation. But that's what we are so excited about today, this morning's announcement.

9:08 This morning, I'm happy and proud to begin to speak to the future of not just Chicago Public Schools, but to America. Sustainable Community Schools is truly the future of public education, not just in Chicago, but across America. Sustainable Community Schools. Provides wraparound services, resources, partnerships into our schools so that students and families have access to what they need, what they need every single day to thrive.

9:40 And today I'm proud to announce that 16 more schools, almost double the current number of sustainable community schools, will begin to transform community schools in this coming year. This expansion will bring the number of SCS designated schools to 36. That means more mental health support, more mentorship programs, more community-oriented events, more access to resources for jobs, housing, continued education, more of all of these things that we know actually work.

10:17 And here's the beauty of sustainable community schools. This motto, this motto is a progressive, transformative motto. It's a grassroots approach towards education reform that is tailored to the needs of each and every individual community. No more top-down privatization in the Chicago public schools and across America. It is well past time that the community actually gets to dictate what the community needs. And that's what this announcement is about today.

10:49 Because each and every community knows exactly what they need. They know what their school community should look like and can look like, so they get to drive the outcomes themselves. This is not a top-down, dogmatic approach. This is bottom-up, community-level change. When we talk about investing in people, this is exactly what we mean. And when we talk about investing in the root cause of violence, this is actually what we mean as well. I'm sure that many of you have seen July was the safest July that we've had in more than a decade.

11:26 They said that a 15% reduction in homicides would be an ambitious goal. But if things went our way, we may be able to hit it. Well, we are now at a 32% reduction in homicides. We've reduced shootings by almost 40%. And so we're making the immediate interventions to bring down crime and violence, and as our communities have asked us to do. And certainly, we also need to make the long-term investments into the root causes of violence, and that's what we're doing today.

12:02 Investing in public education is violence prevention. Investing in community-based organizations is certainly violence prevention. making sure that our young people have after-school programs, summer jobs. This is all violence prevention. So I'm proud that even though we inherited a very jacked-up budget, and even though the corporate so-called reformers, or as Karen Lewis would call them, the deformers, have run our district's finances into the ground with nothing to show for it,

12:33 even though, just like our city's finances, we inherited a complete mess that none of us on this stage right now have had anything to do with creating it. We're still making the critical investments that we need to give our students the very best chance at success. And in closing, it's easy to make investments when there's billions of dollars coming from the federal government. It's even more difficult, though, when we don't have it, and it is even more critical. So to prioritize these investments when we're facing real fiscal challenges,

13:05 this should be every indication that we're going to do whatever is necessary to ensure that every single family in this city has access to sustainable community schools. But the difference that we are experiencing today, we can say that leadership does matter. The leadership of our Board of Education, the leadership of our educators, the leadership of our workforce, the city hall, we're all working together to fully fund our school districts, and we're calling on the state of Illinois to join us in this effort so that we can be a model for the rest of the world.

13:37 Seventy-one percent of residents in this state have made it very clear that they want more funding for public education. Ninety-one percent said that every child in Illinois has a right to a quality public education, a right, not a privilege. With this type of enormous support, there should be no reason why we don't do everything in our power to ensure that Illinois shows up for Illinoisans. In fact, as much as I appreciate Illinois helping out people from Texas, the south side and the west side

14:08 could use that same level of energy now I'm reminded of the other Dr. Keene who made it very clear that if We can figure it out in Chicago, we can do it anywhere in the world. And he spoke about the fierce urgency of now, the fierce urgency of now, and that's what we're talking about this morning. And so now, with the full formula funding model ramping up, we have an opportunity to do something that is right.

14:40 And so with that being said, it also requires us to have right leadership. And so I'm grateful that we have a person who has been in the classroom for 12 years, a principal for 18 years who has worked across multiple administrations. I'm not sure if there's ever been a more qualified person to lead our district in one of the most difficult times in our city's history than this woman. Please welcome to the podium our CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, Dr. Macklin King.

15:18 Thank you, Mayor Johnson, for your leadership and continued support of our schools. And I want to thank you for trusting me with this baby. So this is the work that I started to, I just joined the fight two years ago, and I've been so welcomed by the village. And this truly is a village, and it's a work in progress that demands the commitment from all stakeholders. I do want to recognize the city and community leaders that are here today in support of this immense treasure that we have within Chicago Public Schools.

15:50 Everyone is committed to doing a great work to improve the student experience experience for all of our students, especially our communities that are farthest from opportunity. As a former CPS student, teacher, and principal myself, my training is that I believe that students can only succeed and learn when they are supported. And that's what this village model does. It provides the support and wraparound services that are tailored to the unique needs that our students find themselves in on a daily basis.

16:22 The Sustainable Community Schools model helps to transform schools into the hubs and their communities based on the needs of our families. It is a model that's specifically designed to prioritize investments in the historically disinvested communities. Most of our schools are neighborhood schools and Chicago public schools, and this requires the same effort, support, and resources as all other schools. And we embed community partnership with Sustainable Community Schools, providing additional layers of supports to students, parents, principals, and teachers, and community as a whole.

17:03 Expanding the number of Sustainable Community Schools this year from 20 to 36 is a significant step forward in our investment in education. The newly 16 added schools will receive resources and partnerships, partnership supports that enhance the student learning, promote family engagement, and strengthen school community ties. It is an investment in our students.

17:33 It is an investment in our community. It is an investment in our future. I want to thank everyone again who has joined us. I want to thank those of you who will go along with us on this journey, and I'll now turn it over to the next speaker. Oh, I have the pleasure. I have the pleasure of introducing someone that is deeply committed to the educational landscape in Chicago public schools and nationally.

18:05 It has been my honor to get to know you, to grow with you over these last two years. And I say this to her all the time, some of her words ring out as I'm working through my day-to-day operations. And I really do appreciate being a partner with you as we move forward, and I'd like to introduce you to the podium. How's that for a Monday morning? The boss and the worker.

18:36 And I think it's significant. The bosses. The bosses. The bosses. And the workers. Now you know I use this moment to collect myself and get my comments together. No, seriously, listen, this is a celebration. It is a celebration of an expansion of a model that seeks to empower every stakeholder in the school community.

19:10 It is a celebration of the struggle, of the dreams, of the aspirations of parents, of grandparents, and communities all over this city. I remember a hunger strike at Diet High School. I remember people sitting in lawn chairs. I remember the type of fortitude that was demonstrated to keep one school open. And now we are celebrating the expansion of this.

19:41 I also remember Karen Lewis and Jesse Sharkey creating space for community at our bargaining table. We don't just have sustainable community schools as the goodwill of government. We have it because communities struggled for it. And the union said we're going to struggle with you and we're going to codify those aspirations, those dreams and those demands in a collective bargaining agreement.

20:12 So in our collective bargaining agreement that we landed in April, we made sure to expand this idea. And what you see today is an expansion of community, an expansion of hope, an expansion of what young people deserve. It is a shame that we have to fight and plead and beg for social workers, for restorative justice coordinators, for crossing guards, for special education assistants, for special educators.

20:44 But luckily, Sarah Karp knows how to do math. And so what we saw today in the Sun-Times is that the state of Illinois owes, listen to this word, owes, O-W-E-S, owes, in arrears, past due, like that water bill y'all keep talking about. owes it ain't a bailout and people keep talking to a cps mother a cps father cps families about

21:21 a bailout you have to pay what you owe before you can bail out and so it is time for us to clarify language, to redefine what this fight is and who it is for, and what it produces. See, the investment is in success because I die at high school there are boys who experience one of the greatest feelings in the world. They won a state championship.

21:57 They practiced. They built team. They perfected it and then they won something that they will forever remember for the rest of their lives that is what school communities are supposed to provide for young people and that is what sustainable community schools does thank you so much and now I'm gonna bring my dear brother who is a lot slimmer because of this fight but a lot more powerful we all are

22:28 Mr. G.T. Brown, elected member of the Chicago Board of Education. So I asked for a few sisters to come up here with me. I want to start with this quote. A society that does not invest in its people betrays its people. Ten years ago, during this time, Diet High School was closed.

23:01 But we were in the process of a four-year campaign to not only save diet, but to create a model that could expand not only through Chicago, but across the country. Ten years ago, a group of parents, teachers, community members had to starve their bodies for 34 days. We were rendered so voiceless as an active community that believed in public education where you didn't have to beg to come to community meetings.

23:32 We packed community meetings that we built a vision for a school that the American Education Research Association said it was the best academic plan they'd ever seen. In absence of a plan from Chicago Public Schools, we built America's first sustainable community school. And after 34 days dealing with a mayor that did not recognize our humanity, dealing with a Chicago public schools at that time that did not recognize our humanity.

24:08 We made sure that that school was reopened with 16 million dollars in new investments. Today, it has some of the highest graduation rates among public schools. And as my sister, Stacey Davis Gates said, just won a state championship. I mean, it's really a movie, but I will share this piece that. In that trying time. The mayor of this city joined that hunger strike, not for notoriety, because we but because we understood.

24:39 that this was about one vision of the world versus another vision of the world. There was one vision that felt it was okay to close schools and put young people in harm's way and fire majority black teachers and disinvesting communities because who are we really talking about? And then there was another interest that said our children are beautiful. Our children are brilliant. We survive what most people can't even imagine on a day-to-day basis. And we are worthy of investment because, as Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. says, when the playing field is level, we excel.

25:18 So this vision is about not only these 36 schools, but it's also about the sustainable community schools that are emerging in Maryland, that are emerging in California, that are emerging in Newark, New Jersey, that are emerging in Jackson, Mississippi. be. This is about one vision of the world versus another. Our children are worthy. Our communities are worthy. And we are not the issue. We are not the problem. So I just want us to understand

25:51 that schools are community institutions. It takes community wisdom and academic expertise to lead to school improvement and school transformation. This is not a moment. This is a movement. So now I'd like to introduce y'all good. So I'm so thankful for the partners that we have in this fight, the struggle we've had to go through over 160 schools closed

26:27 in this community. But our vision is in a city that has purged over 300,000 black people since the year 2000, through the loss of affordable housing and through mass school closures. That's the value system that we've been up against. That's the belief system that we've been up against. But, Brother Mayor, I got a dream of welcoming our people back to the city of Chicago. I have a dream of rebuilding our institutions that welcome our people back into our communities.

27:01 See, what the privatizers don't understand is you can have all the money you want but we driven by love we driven by love you look at me you know darn well i ain't never want to be on no hunger strike but when it comes to our babies when it comes to our babies i'll do it tomorrow because as brother malcolm x said i may not be an expert in any particular field but i'm sincere and my sincerity is my credential

27:33 so we're standing on this Chicago will become a sustainable community school district privatizers, this is no longer safe ground for you so if I understand things correctly, I'd like to invite to the stage Ms. Ariana Anderson from Fort Dearborn give her a round of applause, where's Ariana? come on then sis come get it hello wait, can y'all hear me

28:05 hello, my name is My name is Ariana Anderson and I'm an incoming A grader at Fort Dearborn Elementary School. Throughout my years at Fort Dearborn, there have been many opportunities where I could voice my opinions as a student. Being a student ambassador at my school has given me plenty of opportunities to voice what I think my school should look like. SES is important because it helps schools remember that student voice is very important if you want to have a safe environment. They have meetings about how to incorporate mental health into the classroom and also

28:35 put students first. I believe SES helps teach children about social-emotional learning, navigating their emotions in and out of a classroom. Being with SES, I have learned not just what student voice is, but also how it looks in and outside of a school. Now, I would like to turn it back over to our mayor. Thank you. We have one more speaker, a parent. What's her name?

29:07 Ms. Villanueva. Could you all help welcome Ms. Villanueva? Buenos días para todos. Mi nombre es Eunice Villanueva y vengo de Brinton Park. Soy una madre de dos hijos y así es, me he abierto mucho los ojos para ser una madre más productiva y saber que tal vez nuestros hijos tengan problemas o no puedan ser escuchados,

29:42 but maybe they don't have the confidence with their teachers but they have the confidence with us as parents and we are the voice and it's what I have made me feel at home I would like to have a lot of schools to join so that they can see how they care about our children because they don't close our schools and the most important thing as parents are our children Así de que estoy muy agradecida con SES. Gracias.

30:19 The parent's name I'll be translating is Yonise Villanueva, E-U-N-I-C-E, last name V-I-L-L-A-N-U-E-V-A. And she is a parent at Brighton Park Elementary. And she has realized that Sustainable Community Schools has really opened her eyes to her ability to be an involved parent, to have a voice in the community, and to share it with others that what her school is doing is immensely positive for her students. She knows that sometimes students aren't comfortable going to teachers or others, but that they'll come to the parents.

30:55 They'll come to her, and that she, as a voice and a vehicle for change, is able to bring that up at the sustainable community schools and have a voice in that table to make change to get the resources necessary for her children and others. We want other schools to be able to participate in an activity like that so that parents can lean in, can get the resources, the help, and the supports for their children at their schools as well. Thank you. Yes, but they've also seen at the district level,

31:34 and I know that there was budget engagement just last month, that are concerned that there's not going to be good resources to keep these going. I mean, the money from Springfield, I hear that many do feel it's owed, but it's uncertain that it's coming. and with the deficit, what would you say to parents that are concerned that schools like this will not have the resources to continue to approach it? Well, look, those concerns are real, and this is not hearsay in terms of what the state of Illinois has, quite frankly, an opportunity to do. This is not something that should be seen as a burden.

32:10 As a father, I don't see my children as a burden. And, you know, the challenges, of course, that we are facing are severe. So here's what I can say is that as a collective, we're working to ensure that, you know, this year's budget allows for these investments to be maintained. And we're going to need those same parents who are concerned, like all of us, to work with the General Assembly to ensure that we are fully funded as a district.

32:43 Well, the conversations are ongoing, you know, but, you know, again, as what has been articulated, the resilience of the overall collective of our community, we certainly did not just walk away from a conversation when previous administrations ignored the will of the people. In fact, you can make the argument that we are the fruit and the manifestation of that resilience, right? So, look, it's going to take all of us to ensure that our schools are fully funded. 71% of the people of this state believe that our schools have to be fully funded,

33:16 and that's the type of impetus and motivation that I believe that any elected official would want to have as we work to ensure that every single child has access to a high-quality education. Well, the schools are successful when every single child has everything that they need. The success of a school is not just based upon a child's outcome.

33:50 You know, it's like as a parent. How do you judge the success of a child without being able to have a conversation about what that parent has or possesses? So, look, you can't separate the two, right? And so when all of our schools have social workers and counselors and psychiatrists and psychologists and classes that are manageable, when every single child has access to after-school programs and curriculum? And I understand the sincerity of your question, but it's that frame that has caused us to have disinvestment, right?

34:22 Because it was those type of frames that justify shutting down black and brown schools. Here's another question. How do you measure the success of – he didn't do nothing to nobody. He just, that B leaving his best life. Another question is, how do you measure the success of a political moment? Is it based upon how many schools they close? Is it based upon how many people are forced out of the city of Chicago? Right?

34:52 And so, look, of course we want strong academic outcomes. We're all very proud as parents and educators when our children succeed. You know, I have an eighth grader. God bless him. He's going into geometry in eighth grade. I mean, I was a junior when I had geometry, right? I'm just saying that's why I became a social studies teacher. But do you know why my eighth grader is excited about the school year? It's because he knows that he is loved and supported there. That's what the people of Chicago deserve.

35:23 That makes a difference. It makes an incredible difference. And so we measure our success based upon how well adults show up for children.

35:55 No, it really does. And as you know, there's been an ongoing collective effort to make sure that, you know, we have well-paid staff and enough staff to be able to address the needs of all of our schools, school buildings. You know, look, as I said before, we inherited a really reckless, irresponsible budget. We're working through a process now to ensure that, you know, every single school building, that those needs are being met. You know, and I can't overemphasize why it's important to actually have a real partner leading our public schools.

36:33 Look, we brought forth these warnings two years ago, and there was an opportunity to be able to put ourselves in a stronger position today. Unfortunately, that common sense approach was rejected, you know, and so now we're dealing with the fallout from that failure. And it's something that, of course, that we're going to address, and we're going to make sure that every single school building and principals have what they need.

37:20 Very well. Dr. Rodeau? Good morning, Dr. Rodeau-Smith. Good morning. So there was a rigorous process to determine the next level or this next phase of sustainable community schools. First of all, there was a hardship index. And so, again, Sustainable Community Schools really is trying to focus and prioritize on communities, on schools that have faced systemic disinvestment. So there was a hardship index. That hardship index includes things like number of low-income students, number of students who are unhoused.

37:53 And so there was a particular threshold for that. 245 schools then received the application to apply. They had to attend a mandatory kickoff or expansion meeting. And of those 245, 87 schools then attended that meeting. From that 87, then those schools were able to actually apply. There was a rigorous application process in which we asked questions about how do you engage in collective decision making? How do you engage with partners and with parents?

38:24 And how do you ensure that young people have a voice at the table in the decision making of the school? And so, again, they applied for that. And then we had a selection committee that consisted of... both Chicago public school representatives, Chicago teachers union representatives, and also members from the community partners who have helped to architect sustainable community schools, the actual model. And so there was eyes on each one of the applications from CPS and also from CTU and our community partners. And so there were scored, each question was scored.

38:57 There was a cut score that was then determined. And then we started to look at, okay, let's start to look at the demographics of these schools that have made this cut score. Let's make sure that we have black schools, schools that serve predominantly black students, schools that serve predominantly brown students, a mixture of schools that serve both black and brown students. Let's also look at the communities that these schools are coming from. We wanted to prioritize certain communities, again, that have been systemically disinvested. So those were schools that were a

39:30 priority because the point and the purpose is to build a village. So we also wanted to look at where do we have current sustainable community schools and where could we start to build feeder patterns again because we have lost the feeder patterns within our school district. It has become the hunger games of trying to find a quality education. So all of that was to the point of we want to ensure that every single child in Chicago has a high quality opportunity to attend a high-quality school within walking distance of their home.

40:08 I hope y'all got all that.

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