Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defied the City Council and announced six appointees to the Chicago Board of Education after all members of the previous school board resigned.
During a news conference, Johnson rejected demands from the City Council that he should pause the appointment process. He also responded to criticism that he has been too heavily involved with Chicago Public Schools, saying his mission has been to avoid staffing and programming cuts in the city’s schools.
“When I ran for mayor, I promised to transform our public education system,” Johnson said. “I’m a man of my word. And that means bold leadership … that doesn’t nibble around the edges and look for incremental gain.”
Forty-one of 50 City Council members signed a letter, saying they wanted a full vetting of Johnson’s appointees before they’re seated. Signatories include several Johnson allies and 13 of 19 members of the council’s Progressive Caucus, with whom Johnson is close with.
“Chicagoans deserve a voice when it comes to decisions that will affect our school system and city as a whole,” the council members wrote. “A school board full of lame-duck appointees carrying out only a few months of a term before residents get a chance to elect representatives is not what is in our best interest.”
Nevertheless, Johnson rejected this idea.
“The City Council can have as many hearings as they want,” Johnson said. “There’s only one person who has the authority by state law to make appointments. And that’s the mayor of Chicago, and that’s me.”
“Waiting in this moment is the status quo,” he said. “And I am not the status quo.”
Prior to the resignation of the entire board, Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union, and CPS Chief Executive Pedro Martinez had been entangled in debates over how to address the school system’s financial shortfall.
Some of Johnson’s requests of the new school board include to fire Martinez, make a contract deal with the Chicago Teachers Union, and take out a loan to cover a city pension payment and the teachers’ contract this year.
Johnson has not commented directly on Martinez, simply saying he rejects cuts to schools and wants to secure more revenue for CPS.
When Johnson was asked about directing the new board members to fire Martinez, Johnson said: “The board’s job, all board members, no matter what board you sit on, is to evaluate the executive. That’s their job. They will do that.”
All of the six nominees are parents whose children attend CPS or formerly attended, and three of the six have been elected to local school councils. Johnson said the proposed appointees have been vetted by his staff and will go through the next vetting process with CPS before being instituted to the board.
“There’s a lot of attention on this transition of this board right now,” community activist Olga Bautista, one of the proposed appointees, said in prepared remarks.
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“I have to ask, ‘Where’s the outrage about what’s at stake if we don’t fully fund our schools?’ We are putting our children’s futures on the line. … The true crisis is in the classrooms. It’s not in this transition,” Bautista continued.
The appointments come less than one month before Chicago residents will vote for school board members for the first time. Johnson’s office is looking for new members to stay on the board through January, when a new partially elected 21-member board will take over.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
