Several newly elected Chicago school board members and school principal support organizations are asking for more communication and transparency from the Chicago Teachers Union about ongoing contract negotiations. Angel Gutierrez, who won the race for school board in the Southwest Side’s District 8, wrote a letter to Chicago Public Schools officials last Friday asking for an explanation as to why a scheduled training for newly elected school board members this week was canceled. Gutierrez urged the current seven-member appointed board “to refrain from making significant decisions until the new board — both elected and appointed — is officially seated in five weeks.” The letter obtained by the Tribune also asks for further explanation about an ongoing dispute with CTU’s contract proposals — concerns raised by principals at recent Board of Education meetings about a potential loss of leadership autonomy. Kia Banks, chief of staff for the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, told the Tribune that the group doesn’t aim to be adversarial.  “Our concerns are that these decisions are being made without (principals’) input,” said Banks, who was principal at Vanderpoel Elementary School in the Beverly neighborhood for nine years. “What this contract seeks to do could undermine our ability to coordinate the resources in our building.” Banks said CPAA wants to work with teachers and has asked to meet with CTU leadership to discuss several proposals that she said run counter to the objectives of principals: an increase in planning time for elementary teachers, curriculum changes driven by teachers and allowing committees to weigh in on principal performance. The teachers union has not been receptive, she said. Thaddeus Goodchild, CTU’s deputy general counsel, defended the teachers union’s contract proposals. Though he did not say whether CTU has met or plans to meet with union members, he said the two unions have been in communication. The principals union is fairly new, formed in January 2023 after years of failed attempts. “There are always going to be competing interests and give-and-take and push and pull with how best to operate schools, but we think that the opportunities before us make it so each side and all sides are able to rise,” Goodchild said. More preparation time for teachers would allow for “educators to collaborate with each other to make sure that students’ needs are being met,” Goodchild said. The union’s proposals to grant teachers more autonomy “comes down to the fact that … students aren’t cookie-cutter, and curriculum shouldn’t be either,” he said. Another principals group said CTU’s proposals could undermine school leaders to the detriment of students. The contract proposal to provide elementary school teachers with 30 minutes of planning time daily translates to less time with students, which has a proven impact on achievement, said Mariel Laureano, the director of educator supports at the Chicago Public Education Fund. Test scores in some subjects have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, noted Laureano, who served as the founding principal of CPS’ Prieto Math and Science Academy in Belmont Cragin for 10 years. “The more time that students have with their teachers is going to push to close those gaps and to accelerate learning,” she said, estimating that students could lose up to 100 hours of instruction time per year if CTU’s demand for planning time is obliged outright. The union proposal that allows teachers to opt out of adopting schoolwide curricula risks “disjointed learning experiences,” said Gregory Jones, a former principal of Westinghouse College Prep and Kenwood Academy High School, who launched the fund’s principal mentorship program. “Schools are more than just the sum of individual classrooms,” Jones said at a news conference last week, noting that principals are held accountable for the coherence of a school’s academic programs. “We all know students learn best when the curriculum is consistent and aligned,” he said. Jones, like several newly elected board members, is requesting a slowdown of big decision-making that might affect the district until after Christmas. But collective bargaining conversations are ramping up and CTU members are pushing to finalize a contract immediately, saying there is more urgency ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition to power in the new year. Chicago Teachers Union members and supporters hold a news conference to call for the passage of a new contract, before a monthly meeting of the Board of Education at a Chicago Public Schools administrative office on Dec. 12, 2024. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Gutierrez’s letter comes at a time of transition for the board, which expanded this week after Mayor Brandon Johnson made 10 additional picks, alongside 10 members who were elected in November’s election. The mayor has yet to fill the final seat to make up the new 21-member body. Two of those picks were CTU-aligned candidates who lost in last month’s election. Critics of CTU say the mayor — a former teacher and union organizer — is using his power to appoint board members in a way that ignores dissenting voices to the powerful teachers union’s agenda at a pivotal point in contract negotiations. The current sitting board — before the hybrid 21-member body is seated next month — was appointed by the mayor in October after the previous board resigned when CPS CEO Pedro Martinez refused to take out a $300 million high-interest loan to cover ongoing contract negotiations and a pension payment to the city. When this week’s four-day training for the elected board members was canceled with no explanation, newly elected board members told the Tribune they wondered if it was due to the union’s urgency to ratify a contract. “This board seems intent on getting the CTU contract done before we take office, which I think is a mistake,” said Near North Side’s District 3 school board winner Carlos Rivas at the time. Jennifer Custer, a newly elected school board member in District 1 on the Northwest Side, said volunteers with district-adjacent organizations are putting together an “ad hoc” training this week for incoming members. Some previous board members have even offered their time to brief new members on what it takes to sit on the board, she said. “We’re really grateful for people who want to sit down and work with us and offer their help,” Custer said. Gutierrez emphasized that the cancellation of school board training has bigger ramifications. “We’re asking them to slow down,” he said. “(The current board) is trying to go through this super fast, and there’s all this language (in the contract) that’s going to affect other stakeholders. It’s like they don’t care.”