Educators for Excellence-Chicago Slams School Board for Failure to Prioritize Black Students

Dr. Marlena Little, Executive Director of Educators for Excellence–Chicago, issued the following statement after the city’s school board refused to add the Black Student Achievement Committee to its meeting agenda, and in advance of the board’s agenda review meeting today:

“The board’s refusal to even acknowledge the Black Student Achievement Committee on its meeting agenda this week—despite two months of public testimony and more than 100 educators submitting petitions—isn’t just disappointing, it’s indefensible. This is not a delay in the process. It is a denial of duty.

“Let’s be clear: establishing this committee is not optional. It is a legal requirement under SB15. Yet the board continues to delay and deflect, sending a message that the voices and needs of Black students are neither urgent nor worthy of discussion.

“As a CPS graduate and former principal, I know firsthand the brilliance of our students and the systemic barriers they face every day. I’ve dedicated my career to empowering educators to dismantle those barriers—but I know we also need a school board that’s a partner in that work too. At a time when diversity and equity efforts are under siege across the country, Chicago needs a school board that’s ready to lead, rather than retreat from the very people that it’s built to serve.”

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