Meet Adam Parrott-Sheffer, 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?^*
Local control for solutions with district-level monitoring, coaching and access to high-quality curricular materials and professional learning for teachers. The board should be tight on targets and flexible on how schools reach them. Schools benefit from strong information systems that help them know what their kids need. When things are not on track, effective districts check in with school teams to provide support and coaching. If the goal of data is to collaborate and learn instead of punish, we could do much to work together to improve reading and math outcomes (along with the arts, sciences, career and technical education, etc).

Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
Yes. Testing is less an issue of frequency than the amount of time spent. We must limit the amount of time spent on assessment and test prep to protect time for instruction. Standardized testing, when used with student surveys and reviewing student work, is an important tool for knowing students and making sure no one slips through the cracks. Testing for shorter amounts of time, two to three times a year, helps teachers adjust before kids fail when compared to annual weekslong tests that shut down real learning in the school.

Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
No. Diversity is our greatest strength, and different kids need different things. The board is responsible for providing high-quality curriculum options, particularly for new teachers. However, local leaders and educators are best situated to know the needs of their students when provided with good data and evidence. The board should provide resources, set learning targets, monitor performance and set policy to support school communities when students or a particular group of students are not on track for success.

Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
As a teacher, I launched one of the first inclusive learning models for students with disabilities. As a principal, I increased the number of special education teachers supporting my students and improved services. As a district leader, I streamlined how long it took to address parent concerns when their child was not receiving support. This is personal for me; as a parent and family member of people who learn differently, I’ve worked harder than should be necessary to make sure legally required services were provided to my loved ones. Too often I wasn’t successful despite my efforts. Our biggest challenge in special education is we wait for kids to fail before we help them. Kids have to struggle and not pass classes before they receive the appropriate help. Shifting to provide services first to demonstrate they are needed allows us to focus on grade-level learning instead of always playing catch up.

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?
Yes. This is a common practice for school systems especially in times of rapid inflation. However, this will not address the structural challenges that are at the center of our financial challenges. We will need to identify and advocate for revenue beyond Chicago taxpayers while looking for places where we are not spending money as strategically as we could be.

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?^*
There are parts of the district budget where we do not have evidence that investments are improving student outcomes. We need to identify and reduce this spending. We have structural financial challenges like pension obligations our predecessors refused to fund that must be addressed. It is unfair that our predecessors left us this burden, but that does not give us permission to kick it to the next generation. We have yet to fund an educational experience for students across the city that allows each and every student to reach their fullest potential. That will likely require additional funding. The new board’s first responsibility is to increase the amount of evidence-based decision making we do when deciding where to put dollars. We should decide before getting started what outcome we hope to see from an investment and make adjustments or abandon it if we aren’t seeing the results our kids need.

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?
I reject the premise of this question. There is nothing stopping us from making greater investments in our neighborhood schools while embracing a school portfolio that allows us to leverage our diversity as a city. Much of our success as an urban district over the past two decades can be attributed to local control through LSCs, school leadership autonomy and diverse school options. Schools will not improve by pitting them against each other. We have to address the resource inequities that our neighborhood schools experience, but that comes by helping them and not by hurting other school communities.

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?^*
Addressing the inequity our neighborhood schools experience does not require that we raid the bank accounts of other schools. We should view selective enrollment schools as guidance in the bare minimum that all schools need. Our focus should be on finding those resources in ways that do not harm any school while recognizing that neighborhood schools, typically serving kids with more needs, will need even greater resources.

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. We have existing charter schools that are well-regarded by families who send their kids to them. The board’s responsibility is to monitor the performance of all schools, including charters, fairly. If we want to increase the number of students who choose their neighborhood school, the strategy should be to make those neighborhood schools so appealing that families are knocking down doors to get in. It shouldn’t be to close existing schools, regardless of governance models, and to tell families that we know more about what is right for their child than they do.

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?^*
I have a 20-year track record of independence. I am a principal who violated CPS media gag orders to call a mayor to account. I have written op-eds outlining the limitations of both CPS and CTU leadership and charged them to work more collaboratively. My North Star is what will serve all kids, those in classrooms now and those in the future, well — particularly those who have not been well cared-for by our schools. I don’t care about being right; I care about doing right. Most importantly, I know that there are no villains when you bring together people who care about our schools. The job of a board member is to see the different values at play and how they all come from different and real experiences about what will best help kids. If you live in that ambiguity you can find good solutions.

Police in schools

Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
No. We need schools to have good relationships with their local policing districts. As a school principal I met regularly with CPD and worked to ensure we shared values on the safety needs of our youth. School dollars are best spent on things that will reduce the need for police intervention — good relationships with the community, mental health services, youth employment and after-school programming.

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. It should be easy for kids to get to school. More than busing, I support free access to public transportation for youths and families. We are a first-class city and should have a first-class public transportation system. Busing is a Band-Aid solution while we work to build the public transportation system we need.

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. We learned, predictably, that closing schools en masse caused generational harm to communities. We need a little more creativity and imagination when it comes to our enrollment challenges. I believe our decreasing student enrollment, deteriorating buildings and financial deficits are problems we must solve at the same time. The board should be working with communities to reimagine their schools and redesign and rebuild accordingly. Community hubs that bring schools, libraries, recreation centers and nonprofit organizations together can create rich spaces for learning in ways that allow neighborhoods to thrive. It can also reduce costs long term.

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?
I was principal of a school where students spoke more than 35 languages and represented more than 75 nationalities. “Bilingual” frames the challenge as an English/Spanish divide when it is actually a multilingual asset of our city. At my school, we addressed this need by incentivizing all teachers to be endorsed to teach students with English as a second language and prioritizing hiring bilingual teachers. These are practices that can be adopted at scale. In my experience, we can be more creative and flexible in how we support multilingual learners. We need to design programs based upon what each kid needs instead of how we have labeled their “problem.” This should include partnering with families, community organizations and our own students to help address learning needs in ways that are both innovative and compliant with relevant laws.

Top local issue

Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
We need to prioritize our efforts to identify, hire, and retain Black and brown educators and leaders. We know that having even one teacher who looks like them substantially improves outcomes for students. This must start by identifying the future teachers and leaders sitting in our classrooms and give them the experiences, pathway, and dreams of becoming our future educators, leaders, and board members. It also includes expanding pathways for family members, paraprofessionals, and classroom assistants to gain teacher certifications. However, it cannot stop at recruitment. We need to address the working conditions and structural racism that push educators of color from our schools. This will require the development of programming, mentoring, and champions who will co-create with educators the climate and culture required for success. Our best educators are the folks who are already here. We just have to make the path easier and more inviting.