In the final days of this campaign, some candidates are spreading negative smears designed to confuse or mislead voters about Jessica’s strong record as a school leader. Here are the facts about these political attacks:

In the 2017-18 school year, Jessica advocated on behalf of her students and families and spoke publicly about CPS policies that were harmful to her students and teachers. When CPS attempted to change the way it funded special education students that led to services being delayed and denied, Jessica spoke out, working with the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association to show the impact that policy had on her students. She also took a stand against the conditions in which CPS’s janitorial contract with Aramark left her school. Devastatingly, these public positions cost Jessica and the Burke school community. 

Jessica’s opponents claim:
“Jessica falsified attendance data to make herself look good.”
“Jessica was involved in serious issues such as improper student transportation.”

The truth:
This is an intentionally dishonest smear by Jessica’s political opponents. Here are the facts: 11 days after a March 3, 2018 press conference where it was revealed that CPS manipulated documentation and illegally delayed and denied special education services to students at Jessica’s school, and 11 days after a March 3, 2018 WBEZ article categorizing the filthy conditions that CPS’s Aramark janitorial contract had left Burke school (for which Jessica allowed the reporter to interview her teachers), CPS issued a report alleging that Jessica violated 2 CPS policies.

The CPS report, issued on March 14, 2018, named two policy violations:  

1. That Burke staff marked students as tardy even when they may have arrived late enough to be considered absent for a half-day.

2. That Jessica allowed staff to pick up students from their home and bring them to school without keeping appropriate paperwork on file.

Despite requests from Jessica, CPS did not conduct an audit of available documentation to determine if the attendance policy was violated.  

Regarding the transportation policy, each morning, Burke’s attendance procedure involved calling the homes of students not at school. If a parent indicated that the student could attend school but that the parent was unable to transport their student, Burke’s attendance clerk would offer a ride. With a parent’s consent, a ride to school was provided. CPS was correct in finding that Jessica did not keep a copy of staff drivers’ licenses on file.  

Jessica described these incidents in an interview with the Hyde Park Herald this fall, saying “These have always seemed like far-fetched reasons to remove a successful and trusted school-leader. [...] Standing up for what is right, particularly when you’re doing that in partnership with marginalized communities, can often be costly."