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CHICAGO — Fifty Chicago leaders and organizations, including many Latino elected officials, want Chicago Public Schools’ soon-to-be permanent CEO to fill her cabinet and other senior leadership roles with more Latinos.
The signees issued the public statement Wednesday, two days after the Chicago Board of Education voted to name interim CPS CEO Macquline King the permanent leader starting July 1.
“This is not a question of talent but a reflection of a system that has consistently overlooked highly qualified Latino educators and leaders,” the statement said. “The result is a clear and persistent lack of Latino leadership at every level.”
Several district positions are in flux and currently being filled on an interim basis, including its budget director, the chief financial officer, and the chief portfolio officer who oversees charter schools. Alfonso Carmona, acting chief education officer, is Latino but is leaving CPS.
The makeup of teachers and principals doesn’t match the makeup of the district’s students. Hispanic students make up 46% of students at Chicago Public Schools — the biggest share of any major racial group. But 19% of CPS principals are Latino, the statement noted. Meanwhile, the plurality of principals, 45%, are Black, while 34% of district students are Black. Among teachers, the plurality, or 44%, are white, while just a quarter are Latino and just over a fifth are Black.
The statement also called for King to keep partnering with community leaders to “protect every student’s right to a public education, regardless of immigration status” in the wake of aggressive immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. Several Chicago Board of Education members have praised her response to the federal government’s deportation campaign in the fall.
Last month, Latino leaders and organizations raised concerns about why none of the finalists for the CEO job were Latino. It’s unclear whether there were Latino candidates who didn’t want to continue through the process to the finalists stage.
The signees included eight of 10 elected Chicago Board of Education members; elected members Jitu Brown and Ebony DeBerry were not on the list. Board members who were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson also were not on the list.
The list also included Rudy Lozano, a former board member who’d been appointed by the Johnson in 2023, as well as nine alderpeople, and six state lawmakers. Other signees include people who represent community organizations that work with Latino communities, including Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, which provides wraparound services to some district schools under the district’s Sustainable Community Schools model.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
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