CPS strategic plan gets mixed reviews, including 'relief' from charter schools

Chicago Public Schools officials’ new five-year strategic plan received mixed reviews this week after they doubled down on supporting neighborhood schools, but shied away from more significant proposed changes to the school choice system that had caused a stir earlier this year.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Board of Education unanimously approved the strategic plan during a special board meeting Wednesday at a South Side district office housed in a former school building. It was held in the building’s auditorium, where CPS staff and dozens of parents and community members were invited to celebrate the plan’s approval.

District and school board officials presented their vision and priorities for CPS decision-making moving forward — sometimes to loud applause. The plan focuses on improving neighborhood schools, pushing for all kids to pursue multilingualism and measuring students’ and schools’ success in more areas than simply test scores.

Officials did, however, back off from big changes to selective-enrollment, magnet and charter schools, including any new policies affecting funding and the admissions process for those programs.

Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, praised CPS and the board for a “modest step in the right direction.” Charter advocates, leaders and families had protested for months against a feared de-prioritization or even closure of their schools but felt "relief" this week, he said.

“I think they heard from a lot of charter parents and others about how important our schools are in the city, and the board finally recognized that,” Broy said.

But some, like parent Cecilia Acevedo, were disappointed the strategic plan didn’t go further.

Acevedo, who attended Wednesday’s meeting and celebration, said she wants less pressure on families to get into selective-enrollment schools and wanted to see that process reformed. Her children are still young, but she said she has heard the competition is intense.

"I hear it is not great, very stressful for students and parents as well,” Acevedo said. “I think it conditions students to kind of measure their worth based on that outcome."

She said it was a shame that political backlash might have prevented CPS and the school board from addressing some issues.

"What doesn't stir the pot?" she asked.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders acknowledged they like many elements of the district’s strategic plan. But they accused CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who they’ve targeted with sharp criticism for more than two months, of “telling the people of Chicago one thing and actually doing another.

“The five-year plan includes many of our contract proposals, past and present — the very same proposals that the CEO claims the district can’t fund or doesn’t have the capacity to do,” the CTU wrote in a letter to members and supporters.