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Personal Reflection #2 from Interim CPS CEO José M. Torres

11 September 2021

Throughout his school visits, Dr. Torres has been impressed by the patience of our students and the hard work of schools to maintain safety protocols.

CPS CEO José M. Torres

Dear CPS Family,

I am pleased to share with you this personal reflection, which contains my view of what is happening at CPS at the present time. I call it a “personal” reflection because it’s personal. These words come from my heart. I call it a “reflection” because I try to be thoughtful and observant, and at times, I try to be challenging.

I appreciate the feedback I received from many of you after reading my first personal reflection. I am sharing this personal reflection only for those who want to read it. If you’re not interested, this is a good time for you to stop reading. I can assure you that I do not include official announcements or updates regarding CPS.

Thanks to those of you who are continuing to read. I want to share with you a few of my observations as I have visited schools over the past two weeks. Beyond visiting 11 schools the first week of classes (Courtenay, Volta, Ombudsman South, YCCS Latino Youth, Durkin Park, Westcott, Farnsworth, Disney II, Jungman, Washington ES, and Washington HS) – I visited three schools this past week (Juarez, Tubman, and Prescott).

Throughout my visits, I have been impressed by the patience of our students. They wait patiently to come into the school building, are responsive when someone reminds them to lift their masks over their noses, and sit patiently in class to await directions.  I’ve also been thrilled to see how welcoming our teachers and school personnel have been to students and to each other. While we can’t see each other’s smiling faces, we see our smiling “eyes.”

In all of my visits, I have seen schools working hard to maintain health and safety protocols, especially when three feet of social distance is not possible. In one blended classroom, a third-grade boy shot up from his table and ran to give me a hug. While this made three-feet of physical distance impossible, I gladly hugged him back. Both  of us had our masks on and he quickly returned to his table to finish his breakfast. In another classroom at George Washington High School, a 9th grader was engaged in a writing task but kept posing for the photographer who had accompanied me on the visit. I asked if he wanted to be in a picture with me, and he replied that he would be happy to have me in the picture with him; for his Instagram page.

Wearing mask

Ms. Marialuisa Gonzalez was working with 9th grade students when I visited Benito Juarez High School. She asked her class to think of a word that would encompass a goal or challenge that they want to achieve or overcome this school year. The students were asked to write the word down and expand on how they would strive to meet their one-word goal.

I thought about my word for the year, and settled on “possibilities”. I want to continue envisioning possibilities for our CPS students and communities. What would happen if we treated each student as though they were capable of inventing something new, solving a social problem, or contributing in some other positive way to our world?

In Ms. Rachel Blundy’s second-grade class at Prescott, I witnessed an activity where students began by sitting in a circle and closing their eyes. Ms. Blundy started things off by asking a girl (we’ll call her Nicole) to open her eyes and greet a student with their eyes closed. Nicole said to another young girl (we’ll call her Linda),  “Good morning, Linda.”  Linda opened her eyes and responded, “Good morning, Nicole.” She then looked for another student with their eyes closed (we’ll call him Jose), and said, “Good morning, José.” And on and on this went around the circle.

How wonderful to have your eyes closed and have to be still and present to see if your name would be called next. I wonder what would happen if all of us engaged in discussions with others without knowing who is speaking so that we could focus on their words rather than on our biases about who they are.

I plan to continue to visit schools on a weekly basis. Why? Because I believe that what is happening in schools day-to-day has everything to do with what I’m supposed to do here at Central Office. Additionally, when I visit schools I get to hear from school leaders directly about what is top of mind for them. By the way, to keep them as authentic as possible, I rarely announce my school visits in advance.

If all I did was visit schools, everyone would want to be in my position as CEO of CPS!  If you’re wondering what’s top of mind for me, stay tuned for my next personal reflection when I write about those matters that are keeping me awake at night.

Respectfully,
José M. Torres, PhD

PS. Happy Mexican Independence Day and Hispanic Heritage Month!


Estimadas familias de CPS,

Me complace compartir con ustedes esta reflexión personal sobre mi perspectiva de lo que está sucediendo en CPS. La llamo reflexión “personal” porque estas palabras vienen de mi corazón y porque trato de ser observador, y a veces, también trato de ser desafiante.

Agradezco los comentarios que he recibido de muchos de ustedes después de leer mi primera reflexión. Comparto esta reflexión personal sólo para aquellos que quieran leerla. Si no les interesa, este es un buen momento para que la dejen de leer. Les puedo asegurar que no voy a incluir anuncios oficiales ni actualizaciones sobre CPS.

Gracias a los que siguen leyendo. Quiero compartir algunas de mis observaciones al visitar las escuelas en las últimas dos semanas. Además de visitar 11 escuelas en la primera semana de clases (Courtenay, Volta, Ombudsman South, YCCS Latino Youth, Durkin Park, Westcott, Farnsworth, Disney II, Jungman, Washington y Washington), visité tres escuelas esta semana pasada (Juárez, Tubman y Prescott).

A lo largo de mis visitas, me ha impresionado la paciencia de nuestros estudiantes. Esperan pacientemente para entrar en el edificio de la escuela, son cooperativos cuando alguien les recuerda que se suban su mascarilla por encima de la nariz y se sientan en clase para esperar las instrucciones. También me ha emocionado ver lo acogedores que han sido nuestros maestros y el personal escolar con los estudiantes y entre sí mismos. Aunque no podemos ver las sonrisas de los demás, vemos sus ojos sonrientes.

En todas mis visitas, me he dado cuenta que las escuelas trabajan duro para mantener los protocolos de salud y seguridad, especialmente cuando no es posible mantener tres pies de distancia social. En un aula mixta, un niño de tercer grado se levantó de su mesa y corrió a darme un abrazo. Aunque la distancia física de tres pies era imposible, le devolví el abrazo con mucho gusto. Los dos teníamos mascarillas puestas y él volvió rápidamente a su mesa para terminar su desayuno. En la Escuela Secundaria George Washington un estudiante de 9º año, que estaba trabajando en una tarea de escritura, estuvo posando para el fotógrafo que me había acompañado en la visita. Le pregunté si quería salir en una foto conmigo y me contestó que estaría encantado hacerlo para su página de Instagram.

Wearing mask 2

La Sra. Marialuisa González estaba trabajando con estudiantes de 9º grado cuando visité la Escuela Secundaria Benito Juárez. Le pidió a su clase que pensara y escribiera una palabra que simbolizarrá una meta que quisieran alcanzar o superar este año escolar, y que explicara cómo se esforzaría por alcanzarla.

Pensé en mi palabra para el año y opté por “posibilidades”. Quiero seguir imaginando posibilidades para nuestros estudiantes y comunidades de CPS. ¿Qué pasaría si tratáramos a cada estudiante como si fuera capaz de crear algo nuevo, resolver un problema social o contribuir de alguna otra manera positiva a nuestro mundo?

En la clase de 2º grado de la Sra. Rachel Blundy, en la Escuela Primaria Prescott, presencié una actividad en la que los estudiantes comenzaron a sentarse en un círculo mientras cerraban los ojos. La Sra. Blundy le pidió a una niña (la llamaremos Nicole) que abriera los ojos y saludara a un estudiante con los ojos cerrados. Nicole le dijo a otra niña (la llamaremos Linda): “Buenos días, Linda”.  Linda abrió los ojos y respondió: “Buenos días, Nicole”. Luego buscó a otro estudiante con los ojos cerrados (lo llamaremos José), y le dijo: “Buenos días, José”. Y así siguieron alrededor del círculo.

Qué maravilloso es tener los ojos cerrados y tener que estar quieto y presente para ver si tu nombre es el siguiente. Me pregunto qué pasaría si todos nosotros participáramos en discusiones con los demás, con los ojos cerrados, sin saber quién está hablando, de modo que pudiéramos centrarnos en sus palabras y no en nuestros prejuicios sobre ellos.

Pienso seguir visitando las escuelas semanalmente. ¿Por qué? Porque creo que lo que ocurre en las escuelas día a día es parte de lo que debo hacer aquí en la Oficina Central. Además, cuando visito las escuelas, puedo escuchar directamente a los líderes escolares sobre sus prioridades. Por cierto, para que sean lo más auténticos posible, rara vez anuncio mis visitas a las escuelas.

Si todo lo que hiciera fuera visitar escuelas, ¡todos querrían estar en mi puesto de director ejecutivo de CPS! Si se preguntan qué es lo más importante para mí, permanezcan atentos a mi próxima reflexión personal sobre los asuntos que me mantienen despierto en la noche.

Respetuosamente,
José M. Torres, PhD

PD. ¡Feliz Día de la Independencia de México y Mes de la Herencia Hispana!

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