Meet Karin Norington-Reaves, candidate for the Chicago school board’s 10th District

Academics

About 31% of Chicago Public Schools elementary students are meeting state standards in reading, and 19% are meeting math standards. How would you approach growing reading and math achievement?^*
First, we need preschool for all and mandatory kindergarten (I’m aware that this will become law in 2027). Early learning sets students up for lifelong success. This means affordable programs available to all families regardless of income and zip code. Next, we must ensure a uniform curriculum with room for differentiated instruction. This means meeting students where they are with a focus on mastery before advancing to new materials. We must get to the root cause of the majority of our students not meeting literacy and numeracy standards. What we know of early childhood development is that poverty and trauma impact the brain’s receptivity to processing information. If we can address the barriers, we free kids up to access learning. We need trauma-informed staff/counselors at every school, social workers, and reading and math specialists who can intervene and provide supplemental support to those students who need it.

Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
Yes. [Testing makes sense] in some instances. For example, the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a test that can be administered more than once in a year in order to determine a student’s literacy growth. An assessment is done at the beginning of the year and another at the end to determine gains. Assessments are not bad — but the focus has to be on more than teaching to the test, we have to teach for learning, for growth and resilience. Standardized exams should be culturally and academically relevant and used to provide differentiated instruction. Testing for testing’s sake is the problem.

Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
Yes. A high-caliber standardized curriculum ensures educational equity and consistency across all schools. Currently, individual schools choose curricula at the principal’s discretion. This leads, in part, to uneven outcomes district wide. As the product of a selective enrollment school, and the mother of a special needs student, I also understand the need for curricular diversity and differentiated instruction. A common curriculum should provide this as well. It also promotes coherence in learning, ensuring that students who transfer schools don’t experience learning delays.

Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
First, we must build capacity for inclusive classrooms where special needs students learn alongside their peers as much as possible. To do this we need more teachers with special education credentials and more, better-trained SECAs [special education classroom assistants]. (Perhaps now that their wages have increased, we’ll see more interest in these roles). We also need a full audit and searching examination of special education service provision — its strengths and shortcomings, coupled with a strategic plan to address the gaps. Money is but one of the issues, the other is political will and leadership. With the new director of the Office for Students with Disabilities, I’m hopeful for change. Teachers and principals need additional training and accountability with regards to special needs students. There is also a need for parent education. The current IEP [Individualized Education Program] process is burdensome and inaccessible for many parents. We need to do more to help them understand their rights and responsibilities.

CPS finances

In recent years, Chicago’s Board of Education has consistently raised the property tax levy to the maximum allowed by state law every year. Should the board continue to raise the levy to the maximum?
No. Real estate taxes in and of themselves cannot solve the many complex funding problems at CPS. The cost of living has increased since the pandemic, everything costs so much. Yet wages have not kept pace. City residents are paying so much just to get by. To continually increase the tax levy creates pressure in other areas of the economy.

Do you think CPS needs more funding, or do you think the school district’s budget is bloated? How would you balance the CPS budget?^*
While the need for adequate funding can’t be overstated, CPS currently spends nearly $29,000 per student, with the majority of students not on grade level. That is an atrocious return on investment. The state’s adequacy level is 90% but that still represents a shortfall, and we have an ever-growing unfunded pension debt. Real estate taxes alone will not meet CPS’ budgetary needs. Additionally, recent reports state that CPS wrongly included COVID relief funds in its year-over-year base contributing to next year’s deficit. On the one hand I do believe we need more funds directed to barrier reduction, early childhood, K-3 literacy and numeracy gains, and district-wide career and technical education. However, we must also have a keen eye toward bloat, inefficiency and unnecessary spending. I have no doubt that that exists within the current budget, and I would endeavor to root it out and eliminate it.

School choice

Do you support the current board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools and shift away from the current system of school choice with selective enrollment, magnet and charter schools?
No. Every student deserves a top-notch education from a well-resourced school filled with loving adults. I believe that neighborhood schools replete with resources are the ideal. But I also don’t believe that we have to sacrifice magnet, selective enrollment or charters. All types of schools can co-exist. The school board should prioritize accessibility, ensuring that a child’s education is not left to chance or stifled by its zip code. We cannot leave education to the luck of the draw. More, not fewer options, is what parents want and need.

Given the board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools, how would you balance supporting those schools without undermining the city’s selective enrollment schools and other specialized programs?^*
I am the product of neighborhood, magnet and selective enrollment schools. I recognize the benefits of all of them, and I support the right of access to each. Our students have diverse needs, they should have access to a diverse array of schools. I do not believe that we have to sacrifice selective enrollment schools for the sake of much-needed neighborhood schools. Ideally, all schools should be well-resourced and offer high caliber education for every student regardless of need. We must offer strong instruction, extracurriculars and supportive services at every school, and yet students with talents in STEM, the performing arts, languages or accelerated learning shouldn’t be held back from their potential — regardless of their zip code or race.

The first charter school opened in Chicago in 1997 and these privately run, publicly funded schools grew in number throughout the 2000s. Today, 54,000 Chicago Public Schools students, or about 17%, attend charters and contract schools. Do you support having charter schools in CPS as an option for students?
Yes. Ideally, every student should be able to attend a local school and have their needs met there — this is not our reality. Thousands of families have left CPS because they felt they were done a disservice by our traditional public school system. More, not fewer options is what parents want. I fully support charter schools as a viable option for families seeking the best for their student. CPS has systematically harmed many families across the city, while deftly meeting the needs of others. I firmly believe parents should have the autonomy to choose the school that best serves their student.

Independence

If elected, how will you maintain your independence from the mayor’s office, the Chicago Teachers Union or other powerful forces shaping the school system?^*
For 12 years I deftly navigated the demands of both sides of the fifth floor — the offices of the Cook County Board President and the Mayor of Chicago. The same acumen, humility, integrity, forthrightness and courage that I utilized then, I will bring to the CPS Board now. I am not afraid to speak truth to power, even when it’s unpopular or intimidating. I have demonstrated this time and time again throughout my career, whether at the federal, state or municipal level. I worked hard to become an attorney — the only one in my family, thus I take my ethical and moral obligations very seriously. I am a lifelong public servant who believes in holding systems to account. I have been an exceptional steward of public funds, while keeping people’s betterment at the center of all I do. As a parent and CPS alum, the kids are my top priority.

Police in schools

Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
No. Far too many in our communities have suffered trauma at the hands of police. While I believe that our schools must be safe, there are numerous ways to achieve this without creating the appearance of a police state. We need caring adults trained in de-escalation tactics, restorative justice, and conflict resolution. Police involvement should be reserved for the absolute worst offenses.

Busing and facilities

Last year, in an effort to prioritize transportation for students with disabilities as required by state and federal law, CPS canceled busing for general education students who attend selective enrollment and magnet schools and hasn’t found a solution to reinstate that service. Do you support busing for general education students?
Yes. Every student should have access to free school transportation. My daughter’s bus was empty every day, there was plenty of room for other students. I recognize the need to prioritize special needs students & I see opportunities for logistical improvements. Moreover, we are not preparing a talent pool of bus drivers and we should be. CPS should create a commercial driver apprenticeship to produce the next crop of bus drivers. Through partnership with the Teamsters and Olive Harvey College, we could be training and preparing bus drivers to address current and future gaps.

About one-third of Chicago public school buildings have space for at least double the students they’re currently enrolling. Chicago officials have previously viewed under-enrolled schools as an inefficient use of limited resources — and a decade ago the city closed a record 50 schools. Do you support closing schools for low enrollment?
No. School closings MUST be a last resort (and even then need to be handled with great care as the previous debacle demonstrates). It is true that roughly 300,000 people have left the city over the past two decades, and that CPS enrollment has declined in recent years. However, there are numerous revenue generating uses for our school buildings. Defunct buildings could be sold at a much faster rate and at fair market value rather than discounted rates. Existing buildings with vacant space can rent to and house multiple programs and organizations.

Bilingual education

CPS has long struggled to comply with state and federal laws requiring bilingual programs at schools that enroll 20 or more students who speak a different language. The recent influx of migrant families has exacerbated the problem. What policies do you support to ensure the district is supporting bilingual students and in compliance with state and federal laws?
Compliance is critical, this means that all schools must abide by the federal law requiring that our students receive education regardless of immigration status. First, we must have better screening for new arrivals so that we are able to connect families to schools. Second, schools should have access to ELL (English Language Learner) funding to meet these students needs. For parents with work permits we should replicate the programs designed by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association which empowered parents to become paraprofessionals and thereby earn wages while also keeping a presence in the schools. This provides much-needed support within the school community. There is philanthropic funding available for dual generation programming that may align with this. Collaboration with community groups serving immigrant populations is also critical. These groups can help navigate language and cultural barrier.

Top local issue

Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
School quality and access to the high-performing schools is an issue in District 10. Everyone is competing for the top-rated schools and the educational quality among the other schools varies wildly. This is the tale of our city in some ways, but when we have high-performing Level One schools that receive students from across the city, it disenfranchises neighborhood kids who are equally talented, but may not be aware of the selective enrollment process. We need to expand access to high-caliber schools.