CPS Chief: This is a generational fight.

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Brizard says that he and his team are working tirelessly to do the right thing for students. Adding that, some teachers, parents and community members have all been jaded by past experiences with public school stakeholders. (Photo Credit: David Saradin, CPS)
Brizard says that he and his team are working tirelessly to do the right thing for students. Adding that, some teachers, parents and community members have all been jaded by past experiences with public school stakeholders. (Photo Credit: David Saradin, CPS)

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CPS chief executive officer is quick to defend the highly publicized School Actions. He says that the board is not randomly going around closing schools. There is a reason for the closures and turnarounds: to make space to educate more children and provide them with a quality education. (Photo Credit: David Saradin, CPS)

Jean Claude Brizard landed at the helm of Chicago Public Schools seven months ago. He has encountered a firestorm of criticism mostly suggesting he is not improving schools but continuing the rhetoric of his predecessors which includes closing schools in poor Black neighborhoods.

A Chicago Board of Education meeting was recently shut down by protestors due to proposed School Actions up for vote in February. The School Actions are a group of measures that are aimed at providing the districts lowest performing schools with higher quality school options, according to CPS. The Actions include two school closures and 10 school turnarounds.

Brizard met with the Chicago Citizen two days after the fiery board meeting. Before coming to Chicago, he spent three years as superintendent of the Rochester City School District in Rochester, NY.

Ive been around this work so long you that you sort of expect whats going to happen, Brizard said of the meeting. Ive seen this get much larger so unfortunately Im getting accustomed to it. I dont say that to be light about this but it has become a script in other words, he said.

The CPS chief said that the meeting was not actually ended. The board decided to meet in privatesomething that occurs at every meeting to discuss issues that cannot be discussed in private. The board decided to hold an executive session early because of ruckus started by angry demonstrators.

Its interesting. People actually think the meeting ended. At every board meeting we always go into executive board session to talk about teacher terminations, legal issues, real estate issues and things that we cannot legally discuss in public. Our plan from the get go is that we wanted to hear the publics voice. What is unfortunate is that 20-25 people decided they were going to shut down nearly 100 people who showed up to talk to us and the other 100 that came to listen. We decided that if we cannot get them to behave properly, because we had to do an executive session anyway we would go in to that and come back, he said.

According to Brizard, people are so angry with the board of education due to a lack of trust for the system.

He said that he and his team are working tirelessly to do the right thing for students. Adding that, some teachers, parents and community members have all been jaded by past experiences with public school stakeholders.

People are angry because they see whats happened in the past. There is a lack of trust for the system. And dont yet [know] that we are trying to do the right thing for our community. You have people who have been screwed (for lack of a better word) and are now angry because of past experiences. We are saying this is different, please give us a chance to do what we are trying to do, said Brizard.

Brizard added some individuals are agitating the situation. He was referring to the Occupy Chicago protestors who joined Chicago Teachers Union at the board meeting. He said that he had never seen the demonstrators at a board meeting before and that hes never seen them in the community either.

A few people [are] manipulating a lot of people. When you see Occupy Chicago for instance. Ive never seen these people in a board meeting before. Ive never seen them in Austin, Ive never seen them in East Garfield Park, in Englewood when a kid is shot and killed on the streets of our city, I dont see them, he said.

Brizard added that being an African American male who grew up in poverty, he appreciates when people are genuine, especially when it comes to the welfare of children. He did add that there were people at the board meeting who were there because they truly care about their neighborhoods.

Brizard believes people are happy with the job he is doingat least thats what he has heard on the street.

Based on what Ive heard from people that have talked to me people are pretty satisfied thus far. I would be the first to argue that we have not done a lot yet. We are seven months into the job. This is a generational fight to fix a wrong that has been in existence for a very long time. If people are waiting for Jean-Claude Brizard to fix all of it I think they are mistaken. My job is to lead, my job is to do work but I cant do this alone. I joke that J.C. does not stand for Jesus Christ it stands for Jean-Claude. So none of us are super heroes. We need everyone in the community to actually work with us in getting this done, he said.

Brizard contends that the overall goal for his team is to improve the life for a lot of kids.

CPS chief executive officer is quick to defend the highly publicized School Actions. He says that the board is not randomly going around closing schools. There is a reason for the closures and turnarounds: to make space to educate more children and provide them with a quality education.

People are saying we are shutting down schools, we are not. Were only closing two schools out of twenty actions. Most of them are turnarounds. We have a couple of phase outs but the only two closures are Guggenheim and Price. The others are schools that were closing already; were just finishing the job. The big story honestly with the turnarounds is we have to build capacity in neighborhoods that really have none too little. When you walk among these schools and you see little going on in terms of good instruction, you see kids who are floundering and failing you got to do something, said Brizard.

By Thelma Sardin

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