CPS CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS



[pic]

PEIRCE LOCAL SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING (ONLINE)

Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 6:00 pm

Zoom Meeting

MEETING MINUTES

1) Chair (BK) Called Meeting to Order at 6:07 pm

2) Roll Call

a) (Zoom video) – Present were John Azpeitia (JA), Lori Zaimi (LZ), Geri Baumgarten (GB), Joe Dunne (JD), Bill Kennedy (BK), Aisha Noble (AN), Gina Eshu (GE), Tremaine Maebry (TM), and Carl Coates (CC)

3) Approval of the Order of the Agenda – GB made a motion to approve agenda, GE seconded; motion passes unanimously

4) Items Needing Council Approval

a) Minutes from June 2020 meeting – JA made a motion to approve, TM seconded; Motion approved: JA, LZ, GB, BK, AN, GE, TM, and CC. Abstention: JD

b) Minutes from July 2020 meeting – JA made a motion to approve with an edit shared by AN, GE seconded; motion passes unanimously

5) LSC Virtual meetings – steps for improvement

a) Updates on the racist zoom incident from last month

i) LSC has communicated to Peirce community

ii) LSC reviewed and enhanced virtual meeting process

iii) Incident still is being investigated with Zoom

b) New LSC meeting security protocol

i) Enhancements have been made to help make everyone feel welcomed

ii) Extra security enabled for LSC virtual meetings

c) New LSC Communication plan

i) In meeting

1) Zoom meetings will be recorded

2) Public participation is available

ii) Post-meeting

1) LSC-approved Minutes will be posted on the Peirce website, on the LSC webpage

2) If incidents occur during the meeting, LSC will conduct quick turnaround communication

3) Peirce LSC email address is: PeirceLSC@

4) Recorded Zoom meetings available via FOIA request by contacting LSC FOIA officer (TB)

6) Race and Equity at Peirce 2020-21

a) The current Peirce CIWP reflects Race and Equity goals for Peirce

i) Slides presented by LZ

ii) Discussion around hiring and recruiting

b) LSC discussed anti-racist training plan

i) LSC will engage in finding training opportunities

1) LZ, TM and JA will explore opportunities

ii) LSC will determine the need and type of training

iii) LSC will complete the training as part of a public meeting

c) Q&A (Public Participation/LZ)

i) Q: I had seen several deadlines related to the race and equity piece for Aug 2020 in the CIWP - were these met?

1) A: Some deadlines in the CIWP may need to modified

ii) Q: Ms. Zaimi, I heard you say something about racial affinity groups earlier. Can you clarify about that? Is that for faculty? Is that part of the CIWP?

1) A: Racial affinity groups for student, staff and parents

iii) Q: Another big way that inequities play out within our system is the filtering of non-students of color to selective enrollment high schools (and students of color to neighborhood hs). In what ways is Peirce addressing this in high school counseling for middle school students? (recognizing that the SE system is much larger and not entirely within Peirce's control)

1) A: Peirce has a strong partnership with Senn, including engaging students with information and opportunities to explore Senn

iv) Q: Families are creating pods. Is the school involved?

1) A: LZ will review plans; teachers have discussed it as well and are reviewing; and

2) LSC will look at coordinating a committee to address this and other virtual learning aspects

d) Race and Equity Team (RET) plans (TB)

i) Document presented (i.e., working draft of goals and other organizational aspects such as membership and committees)

ii) First RET public meeting will be held on 9/21 (4:30pm-6pm); contact tmaebry72@ if interested

iii) RET plans to present additional organization information at the 9/17/2020 LSC meeting

e) Race and Equity Parent (REP) organization update (AN)

i) REP parents have met over the summer to review Peirce Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) recommendations

ii) REP is developing work plan for the 2020-2021 school year

iii) FYI: REP is separate from RET, and is focused on the parent component (RET is focused on collaborating with the Peirce Administration)

iv) The Race & Equity Parent team meeting is August 26, 2020 at 7:30pm

7) School Security Personnel

a) Follow up on questions raised during June and July 2020 LSC meetings

i) LZ shared responses to public participation questions collected from previous LSC meetings with the Peirce community

ii) There is potentially the option to switch out part-time security to full-time security

iii) Peirce does not have access to CPD personnel detailed records

iv) Part-time security officers cannot arrest since they are off-duty; but they may need to engage as an officer in an emergency situation

v) To-date, no arrests at Peirce have been made by part-time security officers

b) Comments from Jadine Chou, CPS Safety and Security Director

i) Other schools have full-time or part-time officers (sworn off-duty police officers, who are allowed to carry a weapon)

1) Other schools have commented that is helpful and peace of mind to have a direct line to CPD

ii) The security model is a school decision

iii) A database is available to CPS to review complaints

1) Peirce officers do have complaints but have none of the complaints they had were sustained

2) To get additional CPD personnel information for the Peirce officers, CPS will have to request personnel info with CPD

3) Peirce officers are currently funded by CPS; anything in addition may be a cost to the school

iv) If Peirce wants to discuss further, Jadine Chou is able to discuss further with the Administration, LSC, parents and the community

v) FT non officers are chosen by the school principal

vi) All newly security officers assigned must be vetted and participate in a pre-interview

vii) CPS schools’ officers get CPS security training (safety care/de-escalation, implicit racial bias, restorative practices, LGBTQ+) – they don’t get SRO training

viii) LZ and Peirce Administration’s mindset is not to arrest students but to support students through restorative practice

ix) Q: How many police interactions were there at Peirce during 2017-18 and 2019 school year? How many calls were made to CPD?”

x) A: in 2018-19: 0 police notifications; 2017-18: 5 police notifications, 2016-17: 1 notification

1) E.g., one CPS school may have 40 notifications with 50% of those notifications being when students were victims of crime and called the police

xi) RECAP:

1) If a CPS school chooses to remove the PT security staff and hire non-CPD personnel, it is possible and decided by the principal; the CPS principal has ability to ask officer(s) to remove their firearm; principal has the opportunity to replace the officer

2) In CPS, SRO decisions are made by the LSC; non-SROs are the Principal’s authority where the Principal will have to work with CPS regarding the personnel and budget impact

3) There are 2 off-duty officers at Peirce; and if there is a principal request, Jadine Chou (CPS) can work with Peirce

a) Jadine Chou (CPS) is available via email (jpchou@cps.edu)

4) LZ discussed having a collaborative decision-making approach; LZ believes it is important to engage the community when discussing issues and concerns

5) Regarding concerns that Peirce off-duty police officers are carrying firearms, LZ does not want off-duty officers to carry guns

6) LZ and LSC would like to gauge community interest regarding changing staff from 2 PT off-duty officers to one full-time non off-duty officer

8) Public Participation

a) Janelle Miller (Peirce Resident Principal) – introduced herself

b) Why was there conversation regarding Peirce security?

i) Because there were questions over the past recent months regarding the officers

c) Josh Lerner – Solidarity Fund announcement ()

1) Solidarity Fund has raised close to $10,000; supported 17 families (rental assistance, groceries)

2) To participate:

a) Please email peircesolidarityfund@ or call/text 773-766-7451

b) Venmo @PeirceSolidarityFund

c) PayPal: peircesolidarityfund@

d) Berenice Heinlein – update on teacher involvement around antiracism at Peirce

i) Peirce teachers met approximately every other week this summer to engage in antiracism work, intentionally developing community and antiracist learning amongst ourselves. These meetings were entirely staff-directed. Meetings have grown in size from a handful of teachers at the first meeting to about a dozen at the last. Many teachers, staff, and admin also participated in weekly book club meetings to discuss the book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.

e) David Gregg – thanks to Peirce community that contributed to SRO discussion

f) Nicole Granacki – According to the website and Ms. Chou, there were 5 police calls from Peirce in 17-18. What are your thoughts on that number? Is that an acceptable amount? Do you think there was past mis-use of the resource by adults at Peirce?

i) LZ: an acceptable number is zero; LZ and administration believe in restorative justice, antiracism policies and practices, and culturally relevant instruction

g) Q: What additional training do Peirce off-duty officers participate in outside of CPD/CPS training?

i) CPS provides training for the officers; officers are invited in some professional development days and have not participated at Peirce; administration can look at engaging all staff to participate in anti-racist training.

h) What is the CPS school gun policy? No firearms in school with the exception of sworn service members

i) LZ will request no firearms

i) Megan Brand – shared concerns about discussion of police in school classrooms

9) School Reopening plan (slides)

a) Presentation by LZ

i) Specials: one classroom with a specials teacher for a two week period, with free choice Fridays; and then the special will switch after the two week period

ii) Teachers will build in breaks for movement

b) Peirce will provide support for students with IEPs in virtual learning environment

c) How will Peirce address the social/emotional needs of students?

i) Peirce will support and encourage children to engage with each other and teachers

ii) Peirce will use small group instruction as often as possible

d) Student supports

i) Supports and services will still be in place, including intervention schedule and behavioral health support (e.g. for students not engaging)

e) Will there be focus groups specifically for families of color about remote learning? Maybe as a check-in at some point in late Sept?

i) The administration will review this

f) Guidance needed from CPS for activities not completed or available for current 7th graders and last year’s 7th graders

i) Administration will review this

g) Lori will continue communication with parents as updates are available

10) Principal’s Report (slides presented by LZ)

a) Preschool would open to 7 classrooms if CPS continues remote learning

11) LSC Community Representative vacancy

a) Review of candidates and candidate speaking opportunity

i) Hilesh Patel

ii) Luisa Blanco

iii) Nicole Granacki

b) Vacancy outreach plan

i) Ideas for other ways to announce current LSC vacancy?

1) Use Alderman Osterman’s community email communication

c) Timeline for Council appointment

i) Decision to be made during September LSC meeting

12) Committee Reports, if applicable and available

a) Bilingual Advisory Council (BAC) – no update (have not yet met for 2020-2021 school year

b) Parent Advisory Council (PAC) – no update

c) Professional Personnel Leadership Committee (PPLC) – no update

d) Principal Evaluation – no update

e) Safety & Security – no update

13) Community Group Reports, if applicable and available

a) Friends of Peirce (FOP) (JD)

i) Looking at options to support the Peirce community

1) Peirce branded face masks

ii) Will continue to support students, teachers, the school and community

b) Peirce Service Organization (PSO) (JA)

i) Working on ways to socially support incoming and returning families during remote environment, including facilitating opportunities for parents to create/attend social gatherings to supplement students’ social needs (may use )

ii) Reviewing and updating room rep roles

iii) Planning potential Fall Parent Mixer virtual event (event provides information to families, especially new ones, about Peirce’s volunteer parent groups, missions, and how to get involved)

14) Announcements – none at this time

15) Adjourn –Motion to adjourn (AN), JD seconded; motion passes unanimously

a) Meeting adjourned at 9:22pm

-----------------------

[pic]

Peirce School of International Studies

An International Baccalaureate World School

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download