Community Action Councils (CACs) consist of 25-30 voting members who are directly involved in developing a strategic plan for educational success within their communities.

CAC members are: parents, elected officials, faith-based institutions, health care and community-based organizations, Local School Council (LSC) members, business leaders, educators and school administrators, community residents; students.

There are nine CACs across Chicago. They can all be found here: https://www.cps.edu/services-and-supports/parent-engagement/community-action-councils-cacs/

The Hyde Park-Kenwood CAC (HPKCAC) meetings take place every 4th Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. They were formerly held at Walter H. Dyett HS for the Arts, but are now held remotely due to COVID.

Zanette Sanders, chair of this CAC, is leading members in introductions.

Ken joined the call to state that they are concerned about the lack of ADA requirements at CPS schools in Hyde Park-Kenwood.

Members approved the minutes for the November and December 2021 meetings.

The first official item on the agenda is reengagement and Chi-RADS.

Zanette asked Carl Hurdlik to speak on the demands of CPS students who walked out of school. @chiradsCPS is an organization of allied, radical CPS high schoolers from every corner of the city to organize to create an education system that best serves them.

Joy stated that there were several high schools from around the city that participated in the walk out. Members in the meetings, including Carl and Zanette, were supportive of the organizer’s efforts.

The protests took place on Friday, January 14th. https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/14/cps-students-stage-walk-out-to-demand-better-covid-19-safety-measures-in-schools-we-dont-get-any-say/

Charles Bright was introduced to the meeting and described having operational issues and shortages. One custodian has been working double shifts for a few weeks (even though the school needs 3) in order to keep the school clean despite shortages of staff.

Charles works as the principal of the Bret HARTE Science & Magnet Cluster School which has a population of about 330 students.

They are holding a vaccination clinic at the school next week in order to encourage students and their families to get vaccinated. CDPH will provide $50 gift cards for each dose. Friends of Bret Harte Elementary will give gift cards to students who are already vaccinated.

Here is the link to all the upcoming mobile vaccination clinics coming to CPS in the upcoming weeks https://www.cps.edu/services-and-supports/covid-19-resources/covid-19-vaccination/

Myrel Cooke asked about the presence of substitute teachers. Charles responded that their are financial incentives for subs to work more days in order to make up for teacher absences and shortages.

Carl Hurdlik, Community Engagement Specialist at CPS, stated that the vaccine clinics are open to anyone so subs are definitely encouraged to use them.

Carl is discussing the accountability redesign advisory group. As part of the district’s work to develop a new system for school quality, this initiative will engage the city’s education stakeholders to inform the creation of a new school accountability system.

The district’s current school accountability system, School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP), has been a national exemplar about how to use data to inform school communities.

Community feedback showed SQRP can be improved to better account for systemic inequities and optimized to support critical aspects of the district’s work. In response, the district partnered with the community to develop a new system to better serve school communities.

More information can be found here: https://www.cps.edu/strategic-initiatives/accountability-redesign/

The advisory group is comprised of 26 individuals with different backgrounds and areas of expertise.

The Board originally mandated that the policy was to be finished by April 2022, but it has been extended to April 2023. A resolution will be brought to the April 2022 CPS board meeting to finalize some characteristics of the eventual accountability system.

Marcus Pittman, Senior Compliance Facilitator at CPS, is discussing the SY22 Local School Council Election.

Local School Councils (LSCs) serve as governing bodies for each district-managed school in the CPS system. https://t.co/rAgej0e9zn

Several groups have been lobbying for additional representation, so there are now 3 spots for high school students and 1 spot for a 7th/8th graders on each LSC. https://t.co/HMiGc1guC0

Every two years, Local School Council elections/polls are held city-wide, with the next election/poll for Parent, Community and Staff scheduled for:
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Elementary School Elections

Thursday, April 21, 2022
High School Elections https://t.co/kjTOFpotUE

Election Judge applications are due on March 8, 2022. Judges will serve on Wednesday, April 20th and/or Thursday, April 21st and are payed $250 per day worked. https://www.cps.edu/about/local-school-councils/lsc-election-judges/