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The Chicago college board unanimously handed a decision Thursday requiring the following chief of Chicago Public Faculties maintain a superintendent’s license.
CPS is certainly one of comparatively few giant districts which have a CEO fairly than a superintendent on the helm. The Illinois legislation that gave management of town’s colleges to the mayor in 1995 renamed the place and lifted the requirement that its chief maintain a superintendent’s license as required of all different college districts within the state. The decision says the board will push Illinois lawmakers to vary state legislation.
Board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith launched the decision, arguing that the district wants somebody with an training background and knowhow to steer it.
The district is gearing as much as start a nationwide seek for its subsequent prime chief after enlisting a Chicago-based search agency to run it earlier this month. The earlier college board fired CEO Pedro Martinez with out trigger late final 12 months amid a conflict with the mayor’s workplace over deal with the district’s rising monetary pressures.
Below a clause in his contract, Martinez, who served because the superintendent in San Antonio earlier than taking on CPS in 2021, will keep on till the tip of June. Changing him is an important job for the partly elected college board that took over in January.
“A superintendent will put colleges first as we transfer ahead,” Smith mentioned. “That’s why that is so essential.”
A superintendent usually has a sophisticated diploma and a superintendent endorsement from a college, which requires further coaching in training. The permitted decision says Chicago’s subsequent chief “shall maintain a sound Illinois Skilled Educator License, with a Superintendent endorsement as issued by the Illinois State Board of Training or an equal credential from one other state.”
Traditionally, beneath a long time of mayoral management, Chicago’s mayors have appointed the district’s CEOs — typically shut allies with a monetary or enterprise background and little or no expertise working a faculty district.
Smith’s decision additionally applies to interim prime leaders for CPS as effectively — an administrator the varsity board might need to nominate if it doesn’t discover a everlasting alternative for Martinez by his departure in June.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter protecting Chicago Public Faculties. Contact Mila at [email protected].
