CPS to discuss hiring more teachers of color at community meeting

The meeting Monday will be the first for the Chicago Board of Education’s Workforce Development and Equity Committee, one of three committees created this past summer.

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Chicago’s school board is hosting a public meeting Monday about hiring, developing and retaining more teachers of color in a district that’s almost entirely made up of students of color.

The meeting will be the first for the board’s newly formed Workforce Development and Equity Committee, one of three committees that were announced this past summer.

The need for more teachers of color is clear after students, parents and teachers have voiced their concerns about the teaching ranks not matching the diversity of the student population.

Though only 10% of the 355,000 students in Chicago Public Schools are white, about 50% of the district’s 21,000 teachers are white.

Board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland, an associate professor in history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is heading the effort to change that.

“This committee will cover a wide range of things, but for this first meeting we’re just taking a slice of that work and particularly looking at teacher recruitment and development,” Todd-Breland said at a school board meeting, “with a key focus on one of the goals of the CPS five-year vision, which is the hiring of 3,000 black and Latinx teachers by 2024 and the retention of teachers of color.”

The meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at Richard T. Crane Medical Preparatory High School, 2245 W. Jackson Blvd., on the Near West Side. Those looking to attend can sign up that day starting at 5 p.m. or can fill out a form on the Board of Education website.

Breland said the meeting will be “largely informational, giving folks in the community a sense of what program CPS already has going on, initiatives related to these topics.” But a big part of the gathering will be to hear from parents, students and community members who want to share their ideas and suggestions.

“I know it’s close to winter break, but come out and help us plan for this important work and be a part of this work,” Todd-Breland said. “We don’t get there if we don’t get there together. So please come be a part of this. I look forward to seeing everybody.”

Another board member, Luisiana Meléndez, is holding the first meeting for her early childhood committee sometime in mid-January, though an exact date and location haven’t been determined yet.

“We want to hear everybody’s voice here,” Meléndez said. “We want to hear what’s working and what communities need. ... This will be also a meeting where your voices will be encouraged and absolutely essential to inform this work as we move forward in providing the best programs and services for our youngest children.”

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