The goal of the CPS community roundtables sessions are two-fold: 1) to provide community members with information on the current state of CPS facilities and 2) to gather community feedback to integrate into plans like FY2025 Capital Budget Planning and the 5-year Strategic Plan.

Attached is a photo of the Bronzeville/South Lakefront district boundaries. The district encompasses 16 different South Side neighborhoods. (Photo courtesy of the CPS website: )

As for demographics information, 90% of students in this district identify as black for the 2022-2023 academic year (AY), and most neighborhoods in this district consist of households with low- to medium- median household incomes. (Sourced from CPS: )

The meeting has begun promptly at 5:30pm at Ray Elementary School. 32 people are attending online, and there are around 35 people at the community roundtables. CPS Chief Operating Officer Charles Mayfield is leading the meeting.

Here is a screenshot of the meeting agenda:

COO Mayfield reports that there is a $4.5 billion need to repair all facilities, and the COO notes that half of schools are under-utilized.

The COO notes that the feedback from this meeting will be integrated into the CPS 5-year Strategic Plan, not Capital Planning.

The first roundtable discussion begins. There are 2 guiding questions relating to the slide attached below. Questions are on next tweet.

What resonates with you from the previous slide? What is missing when describing our students’ experiences in our schools? 2. Does your child’s current school provide the experiences listed in the previous slide? If not, which areas does your child school needs to prioritize?

I sit at a table to overhear the conversation. A mother of two CPS students, one in 6th grade and one in 7th grade, calls for improvements to road control, the dietary environment, heating/cooling/venting, paint chipping, bathrooms, and water fountains.

The same mother continues with noting a need for changes in instruction. She states that 75% of students are failing math at her kids' middle school, and that one of her children was ineligible to apply for a selective enrollment high school due to their GPA.

Another parent notes her concern about the language barriers between new migrant children in the classroom and the teachers. She notes how teachers are taking a long time to try to understand migrant students through translation apps since many do not understand Spanish.

Two parents note concerns over transportation safety to/from school. A father notes how his children rely on CTA to get to school because walking and biking to school is not safe. He notes violence and drug concerns on CTA, which he does not believe is functioning well.

A second roundtable discussion (set to last 40 minutes) regards questions about facilities and buildings. Questions include, "What is a positive aspect of your students' building?" and "What about facilities should be prioritized at your school?"

After the first roundtable discussion, the meeting continues with a presentation about district information for Bronzeville/South Lakefront. Attached are photos of the pamphlet about the district provided to each attendee. The last photo of the pamphlet is on the next Tweet.

At the roundtable of 7 members I overheard, all members raised concerns over day-to-day maintenance and cleanliness of facilities. 2 parents speak about how custodial services should not be contracted to a private company.

Parents chime in and agree on the importance of a regular janitorial presence. Many note how it is a nice presence to see a familiar janitor; a mom of 2 CPS kids states “It’s part of that educational family and environment.”

Community members voice concerns for the safety of drinking water at schools. One father notes how he believes there should be no lead pipes at CPS schools, pushing for replacing infrastructure and modern pipes.

While discussing safe drinking water, a mother of 2 CPS students notes how many water fountains at her students' middle schools do not work, so she is sending her kids to school with water bottles which she believes should not be necessary.

Parents note a desire for collaborative planning between CPS, Chicago Park District, and Chicago Public Library for after-school programming options for students.

A father notes how his school has no funding for librarians, so it relies on parent volunteers. He says, “It’s hard to put that on the parents... it’s hard to say, ‘We can’t afford a librarian, so you can not go to work and volunteer if you want one.’”

The second roundtable discussion ends, and different tables begin sharing their takeaways. The first shared takeaway regards a need for greater space in the schools for the congregation of large amounts of people and for greater parking access. She notes a lack of auditoriums.

Another shared takeaway, from Zoom participants, regards a desire to be able to better compare facility qualities between different CPS schools. "It's hard to know what we need when we don't know what other schools have," he says.

Another shared takeaway, from in-person participants, regards a desire to "cut the red tape" to allow for non-profit programming and contracting to be easier to advance educational opportunities for students when CPS funding is lacking.

The last shared takeaway is from a mother of sons at Kenwood Academy High School. She calls for smaller class-sizes and encourages CPS to use an evidence-based funding allocator.

Alfonso Carmosa, CPS Chief Portfolio Officer, chimes in via Zoom and says how they are working on greater transparency on funding to be publicly accessible and transparent on the CPS website.

COO Mayfield addresses selective enrollment school concerns regarding racial segregation. He notes how selective enrollment schools will not be disinvested in, but how they are focusing on investing more into neighborhood schools.

Here is the last photo (5/5) of the pamphlet regarding district information.

The meeting is adjourned at 7:31 pm. COO Mayfield shares an exit survey for feedback. For more public meeting coverage, check out .

This concludes my documentation of the Bronzeville/South Lakefront district community roundtable discussion for Chicago Public Schools Education Facilities Master Plan. Attached are photos from the meeting. #CPS #chicagopublicschools @ChiPubSchool