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Parent and student speakers raise safety and process concerns at Foreman High and LSC principal selection

Chicago Board of Education (City of Chicago SD 299) · March 10, 2026
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Summary

A former Local School Council chair and a Foreman High student accused school leadership of pressuring the LSC, mishandling principal selection, and deprioritizing student safety during protests and a threat; the board did not take public action on those complaints at the meeting.

Jessica Kieran, who said she previously served as chair of her school's Local School Council (LSC), told the board the interim principal pressured the council to approve a contract without interviews and that required LSC training was delayed by district staff. Kieran said attempts to follow the district's LSC process were suppressed and alleged irregularities including a parent representative who she said no longer lives in the state and a teacher representative whose reported election status was inconsistent with the winners submitted for board approval.

"Having just met the man I felt deeply uncomfortable with this and refused and this set off a pattern of retaliatory behavior," Kieran said, describing why she declined to serve a fourth term as chair and expressing concern that LSC powers were being undermined.

Avery Allen, a student at Foreman High School, described a recent walkout protesting ICE and said the interim principal, identified in the transcript as Dr. Roberts, tried to restrict the form and length of protest. Allen said the school leadership emphasized minimizing classroom disruption rather than supporting student voice and raised multiple safety incidents: a student who later was arrested across the street with a gun, and a staff member seriously assaulted and hospitalized but reportedly back at school the following day. "We barely have a voice in the world," Allen said.

Those complaints appeared only in public comment; the transcript records no formal response or disciplinary action by the board in the public session. The meeting moved into executive session after public participation concluded.