Why Chicago Public Schools CEOs fail at being transformational leaders
*Ray Salazar writes from a Chicago point of view, but how many school districts across the country have a similar leadership crisis, and how does this affect Latino kids who are becoming the majority in public schools? VL
By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino
Today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel named yet another Chicago Public Schools CEO–Forrest Claypool—to lead our troubled school district. Yes, we are troubled at the school level, but today’s troubles are due to poor district leadership. In the last 20 years that I’ve been in education, the CPS CEOs failed to transform our district because Paul Vallas, Arne Duncan, Ron Huberman, Jean-Claude Brizard, Barbara Byrd-Bennet do not posses key qualities of a transformational leader.
[pullquote]I don’t remember listening to a past CEO or learning about a CEO’s decision and saying, “I want to be like that.” [/pullquote]Today, Forrest Claypool gets a shot for who knows how long. But based on an interview when he launched his failed Cook County Assessor’s campaign in 2010, I don’t see transformational leadership qualities in him either.
For the fourth time in twenty years, we have a CEO with no teaching experience. Because, let’s face it, teacher experience and leadership is just not valued.
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This article was originally published in Chicago Now.
Since 1995, Ray has been an English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. In 2003, Ray earned an M.A. in Writing, with distinction, from DePaul University. In 2009, he received National Board Certification. His writing aired on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio many times and have been published in the Chicago Tribune and CNN. For thirty years, Ray lived in Chicago’s 26th Street neighborhood. Today, he lives a little more south and a little more west in the city with his wife, son, and daughter.
[Photo by WBEZ/Flickr]