Should Chicago’s School Board Resolve LSC Conflicts?

Late in last Thursday's meeting, the school board picked up an issue tabled from March: whether to fill a vacancy in Clemente High School's Local School Council. Sounds simple, right? There's a vacancy. A person has been nominated to fill the slot; the board appoints.

That's not how it worked out.

After nearly 20 minutes of discussion and a no vote on an intervening motion to table the question, the board chose not to fill the vacancy. The vote was split: eight yes, seven no, four abstentions.

This situation was just one of many instances when LSC issues have come before the partially elected board since taking office in January 2025. The specifics of Clemente's situation--a divided council considering whether to give their interim principal a four-year contract, where an additional member could tip the scales--are fairly common. What's not common is how much board meeting time and attention it took. At the same time, many board members are spending time behind the scenes trying to help resolve issues raised by LSCs at schools in their districts.

"We have lots of Local School Council issues, and we have to figure out a way to be much more efficient in determining resolution," said Angel Gutierrez (8a). "These things seem to be dragging on and on and on."

For much of the past year, Board Rule has been hearing from LSC members who aren't getting their problems solved through the standard channel: contacting the Office of Local School Council Relations. Given that best practice for school boards is to govern, not manage, the board could direct Superintendent/CEO Macquline King to determine what must change within that office to resolve more individual LSC issues before they reach the board.

History Lesson: LSCs Need Independent Support

But history suggests that asking Chicago Public Schools to improve its services to LSCs could be like asking the fox to guard the chickens. "There are people wanting to do things to improve the system," said Michael Brunson, a retired CTU officer and longtime member of the Harlan LSC. "The bureaucracy wants to maintain the status quo."

Even from the first LSC elections in 1989 to the second, the number of candidates dropped from 17,000 to just over 8,000, thanks to declining foundation support without new investment from the school district. By 1995, Mayor Richard M. Daley had won new levels of power over the school system.

An early warning sign of kneecapping LSCs surfaced in 1996, with the creation of the Local School Council Advisory Board. Before the 1995 law, district councils and the School Board Nominating Commission took LSC community power and pushed it up a level--into deliberations happening in CPS central office and the Mayor's Office. But they were swept away by the increased powers of the mayor. In their stead, a new state law created the LSC Advisory Board and charged it with advising the school board on educational issues.

"Up and running since March, the LSCAB draws criticism as a neutered creature directed by the Reform Board. But supporters say LSCAB is a sensible improvement over what came before," Grant Pick wrote in Catalyst Chicago back in December 1996. I highly recommend this article to all readers interested in the history of the early days of school reform and the tension between the reforms of 1988 and 1995. [Note: the online version of the article shows a date of July 5, 2005. That date reflects a website transition and is incorrect.] The debate then echoes debates now about whether a single point of contact between LSCs and the school board eases friction or limits transparent discussion and democratic decision-making.

The subsequent decades saw CPS wage a long war of attrition against LSC authority: from denying LSCs of schools on probation the right to hire a principal to the creation of scores of new schools not required to seat elected councils. Community-led efforts to win back power through the legislature often failed, as in 2008, when community groups unsuccessfully pushed to win back LSC rights to choose a principal at schools on probation and require LSCs for charter schools. Board Member Jitu Brown (5a) was a part of this effort.

Over the years, most of the independent supports for LSCs have shrunk or vanished altogether. Community-led, independent groups like Parents United for Responsible Education and Designs for Change, who were major players in creating and supporting LSCs, no longer exist. Participation in LSC elections, both among voters and candidates, is up since the pandemic of 2020, but has not rebounded to the heights of the early years. Currently, 203 of 508 schools with fully empowered LSCs have a full complement of members. In 2022 (the most recent year for which I could find hard numbers on deadline), Chalkbeat Chicago reported that over 110,700 voters turned out for LSC elections. In the 2022 school year, the advocacy group Raise Your Hand published an analysis of 508 school websites that showed significant racial and geographic gaps in access to basic information about the school's LSC, like meeting dates, agendas, and contact information.

Yet, despite the decades of hand-wringing about problems at LSCs, most schools that have them are not reporting problems, and where they work well, they can be a real asset to school improvement. This explains why a surprising new player has entered the world of LSC support. The Chicago Public Education Fund, long involved in principal development, now offers an LSC mentorship program. "The School Reform Act [of 1988] ties LSC power and principal authority," said Nelson Gerew, The Fund's chief of internal and public affairs. "They are bound together."

What's Next for the Board and LSCs?

Given that a substantial minority of sitting board members have served on LSCs, and that all of them have a vested interest in staying close to the schools in their districts, it seems unlikely that the LSC Advisory Board would become their single point of contact on LSC issues. But many board and LSC members Board Rule spoke with would like to see it become a more empowered source of independent advice for the board.

At the same time, now could be a good time to update structures in place before 1995, like district councils, but this time tied to school board districts and with meetings intended to build relationships between LSCs and their board member. Some folks Board Rule spoke with suggested board members meet specifically with student LSC reps to hear about conditions inside schools from the ultimate stakeholders, firsthand.

Board Member Yesenia Lopez (7b) said she would like to see the school board focus on changes in policy and statute that could support LSCs, "so it doesn’t turn into who has access to the board and who doesn’t."

Readers, what do you think could be done to resolve more LSC conflicts before they reach the school board? How should the board and LSCs interact? As Chicago moves to an elected school board, is there an expanded role for the LSC Advisory Board? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or by email: maureen.boardrule@gmail.com.