After delay, applications now open for Chicago school board’s noncitizen advisory panel

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Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office is seeking people interested in serving on a state-required noncitizen advisory panel meant to advise Chicago’s school board members — 20 months after the city’s current partially elected school board was seated.

The applications, which opened Aug. 31 and close Sept. 25, also come two months before voters will choose a new, fully elected Chicago Board of Education. They are the first concrete step toward picking people to serve on a panel that advocates pushed for when the Illinois state legislature created Chicago’s elected school board.

The mayor’s office will choose 17 people and expects to finalize appointees, who must be Chicago residents, by the first week of November, Griffin Krueger, a mayoral spokesperson, said in an email. Two people had applied as of Monday morning. People can apply for one- or two-year terms, according to the application.

Advocates pushed for the advisory board as a way to give a more formal voice to noncitizens, who cannot vote in Chicago’s school board elections. Those advocates, including the education advocacy group Kids First Chicago, spent the last two years pushing the mayor’s office to establish the advisory panel. Their calls continued during the federal government’s aggressive deportation campaign in Chicago last year, known as Operation Midway Blitz, when families wrestled with whether it was safe to send their kids to school.

Asked why the applications were delayed, Krueger said the mayor’s office was taking “prudent precautionary measures” so people could apply and participate on the board safely as immigration enforcement increased in the city, though he did not elaborate on what those measures were. Krueger said the office also wanted to ensure people understood the requirements of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, which regulates when and how public bodies must meet and conduct business.

State lawmakers left the mayor with wide latitude over what the advisory board should look like. State law doesn’t set a deadline for creating the board, prescribe how many people should be appointed, or say whether any of the appointees must be noncitizens.

Krueger said the mayor’s office expects more applications as organizations circulate the form.

Jessica Cañas, chief of community engagement at Kids First Chicago, said she’s heard from parents who are excited that applications are open. Cañas said she’s interested to see how many immigrant students and parents will be picked, though the city is not asking applicants to disclose their immigration status, appearing to address one of the concerns community members had about the application process.

She noted that the term “noncitizen” can encompass a wide variety of immigration statuses.

Her organization is also wondering how the noncitizen board will work, given how little is stipulated in state law. For example, how will it interact with the elected school board? Will there be term limits for appointees? Krueger did not immediately share more details.

Cañas applauded the city’s efforts to meet with and listen to concerns from community members over the last nearly two years.

“I just wish it would have been done sooner,” Cañas said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.