Clare Proctor/Sun-Times
In 2012, Brenda Delgado spoke at her first Chicago Board of Education meeting. A parent of a child who attended Salazar Elementary, which was at risk of being closed, Delgado was “passionately crying,” urging board members to keep her child’s school open.
Board members were doodling in their notebooks, said Delgado, of Washington Park. She is one of many Black and Brown families with children in CPS advocating for a fully elected school board, which is now appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
More than a dozen community organizers are calling on Illinois Senate President Don Harmon to allow that chamber to vote on a bill that would allow Chicago residents to elect their school board, which is what happens in the more than 800 other school districts across the state.