In a surprise move, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday that she has appointed former Ald. Michael Scott Jr. to the board that oversees Chicago Public Schools.
The news comes less than two months after Scott announced in May he was stepping down from the City Council to join Cinespace Studios, where shows such as “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.” film.
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Lightfoot also said she is appointing to the seven-member board Paige Ponder, a former CPS employee and member of the Illinois Community College Board; and lawyer Sulema Medrano Novak, who sits on the city’s Human Resources Board. Lightfoot said Medrano Novak will resign from that board.
“Selecting a member for the Chicago Board of Education is a decision that will impact thousands of students and must be made carefully,” Lightfoot said in a press release. “I am confident that Michael Scott Jr., Sulema Medrano Novak, and Paige Ponder will be great additions to the board. Their collective years of experience and dedication will be a great asset to our board and will benefit our students and teachers for years to come.”
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Scott worked for the Chicago Park District as a supervisor and manager before being elected in 2015 to represent the 24th Ward that includes North Lawndale. He previously led the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development.
Lightfoot announced last month that she was replacing Scott with his sister, Monique Scott. Scott’s father, Michael Scott, was a close ally to Mayor Richard M. Daley who rose to become president of the Chicago Board of Education.
There were only two vacancies on the Board of Education before Friday. Luisiana Meléndez and Lucino Sotelo had previously announced their departures. Far South Side activist Joyce Chapman was appointed last month to fill a 2021 board vacancy. The board of education’s next meeting is scheduled for July 27.
Scott said Friday that he and Mayor Lightfoot had discussed the position as he was exiting his role as 24th Ward alderman.
“We had conversations about continuing to serve in some kind of capacity. My thought was actually at the Park District, that’s where I wanted to go for a lot of years. However, this opportunity presented itself and because of my family’s connection to CPS and the Board of Education and the role I played as chair (of City Council’s Education Committee), it was something I gave a lot of consideration to.”
Lightfoot tapped Scott to serve as Education Committee Chair shortly after she took office in 2019. While Scott pledged more active oversight of the district in part by holding more frequent committee meetings, a council analysis from WBEZ, Crain’s Chicago Business and the Daily Line found Scott had only called committee meetings seven times since taking over as chair. Though the district was facing unprecedented crises during COVID-19 — including school-based outbreaks, learning loss and union-related work stoppages — most meetings held were routine.
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Scott defended his work as chair and said he “worked really hard with CPS and fellow aldermen to disseminate the information given to us by CPS and the mayor’s office.”
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Part of his responsibility as chair, he said, was “not to give, whether it is (the Chicago Teachers Union) or the principals union, another platform to shine their agenda on parents. I think they do a great job doing that on their own. I didn’t want to use that committee to do that.”
Asked how he might approach union relations while on the board, Scott said, “In this role, they can’t run anybody against me now if I disagree publicly with their mission.” He added his focus would be on improving outcomes for CPS families and bringing more resources to the city’s West Side. Three of his children attend CPS schools, he said.
Asked whether he might run for a spot on the school board when positions are up for election in 2024, Scott said that was unlikely.
“One of the reasons that I stepped away as alderman is the politicizing of the job and the electoral process and all that kind of stuff,” Scott said. “I haven’t given it much thought, but as I think about it now, probably not.”
tswartz@tribpub.com
