Neighborhood Schools and Charter Schools: Room for Both at CPS?
Andrew Broy, Troy LaRaviere, Jay Travis, and Andrea Zopp
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015
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Speakers
Andrew Broy
Andrew Broy is the President of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, a statewide advocacy and charter school support organization serving 156 charter campuses in Illinois that collectively educate more than 60,000 public school students. In four years, Andrew has grown the organization substantially and secured an 80% increase in annual revenue. Working directly with legislative leadership, INCS supported the enactment of the Illinois Charter School Quality Act of 2011, which established an independent charter school authorizer, and helped defeat more than a dozen anti-charter initiatives in 2014. INCS was also instrumental in crafting the district-charter compact with CPS, which led to the promotion of high-quality charter growth in Chicago. Prior to joining INCS, Andrew was a civil rights litigator in Atlanta from 2001-2006 and specialized in school finance disputes, desegregation cases, and charter school law. Andrew has authored several amici briefs in United States Supreme Court cases, including cases challenging congressional authority to enact remedial civil rights statutes and a case involving the constitutionality of federal campaign finance reform. Andrew serves on a number of local and national boards and began his career as a high school teacher. Andrew is an avid angler who lives in Chicago with his wife Keecia, three daughters, and retired birddog.
Troy Anthony LaRaviere
Troy Anthony LaRaviere is the principal of Blaine Elementary School, one of the highest performing neighborhood schools in Chicago, and a relentless defender of public education. He is a CPS principal, CPS parent, and CPS graduate. In July 2013, he became the first Chicago principal to speak out against the destructive school policies of Chicago’s mayor, with a powerful speech at City Hall. In May 2014, he followed up with a compelling Op-Ed in the Chicago Sun-Times that generated significant media coverage of City Hall’s heavy-handed approach to silencing principals. His Op-Ed was later republished in the Washington Post. During the summer LaRaviere and other concerned principals founded the Administrator’s Alliance for Proven Policy and Legislation in Education (AAPPLE), an organization committed to defending and promoting high quality public education. He added to these accomplishments in August when his analysis of student assessment results revealed that public neighborhood schools produced significantly more academic growth in students than charter schools. A few weeks later AAPPLE exposed filthy conditions in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) that were the result of the city funneling $340 million taxpayer dollars to two private for-profit custodial management companies. More recently, LaRaviere uncovered the fact that CPS Office of Accountability officials altered charter school test score data. Today LaRaviere continues to lead his school while working to inform the public of the dangers of the sub-standard parasitic school system reorganization underway in Chicago and across the country.
Jay Travis
Jay Travis has a 20-year history of service and policy advocacy in many communities comprising the Bronzeville area. Jay’s commitment to equity, social justice, and combating racism has profoundly shaped her personal philosophy and professional goals. As leader of the one of Chicago’s oldest, multi-issue community organizations, the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Jay engaged families in organizing to impact critical public policies. Examples include winning employment opportunities for thousands of marginalized teens, young adults, and others throughout Illinois, plus increasing available resources for safe housing for working families. Jay Travis is a steadfast advocate who continues to fight for and win fair and equitable municipal, state and national policy change. Among numerous recognitions, Jay is the recipient of Congressman Danny Davis’ Black Woman of Courage award (2013), and the 2013 Egretha leadership award, and the Community Renewal Society’s top 35 leader’s award (2007). Her professional experience includes work at the social justice grant making foundation, the Woods Fund of Chicago, and among her board service is the Advisory Board of Illinois Issues Magazine. Jay is a graduate of the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration where she received a Masters degree. Her work has been highlighted in the Washington Post, Crain’s Chicago Business, New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader. Jay is deeply committed to engaging diverse constituencies in working collaboratively to create a more just society for all.
Andrea Zopp
Andrea Zopp, a member of the Chicago Board of Education, has been president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League for four years. Before that, she held leadership positions with a number of major corporations, including Exelon, Sears Holdings, and Sara Lee. Ms. Zopp also was a partner in the litigation department of the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, specializing in the areas of commercial, employment, and white-collar criminal litigation. She also served as the First Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, where she was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the nation’s second largest prosecutor’s office. She was the first woman and African American to serve in this role. Active in civic affairs, Ms. Zopp served as chair of the board of directors of the Chicago Area Project, a community-based delinquency prevention program. She was president of the board of Leadership Greater Chicago and a member of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors. Ms. Zopp spent several years on the board of trustees for the National Urban League and the board of directors for the Cook County Health and Hospitals Systems. Ms. Zopp received a bachelor’s degree in history and science and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University.
