ONE-TIME CRITICS ‘IN FROM THE COLD’ Parent activist Calvin Pearce now directs the Time Dollar Cross-Age Peer Tutoring Network, a School Board-sponsored initiative, in Englewood. “It was about time to come in from the cold,” says Pearce. … Lafayette Ford, former executive director of the now-defunct CityWide Coalition for School Reform, started working for the School Board in late November as Region 3’s local school council facilitator. Salary: $55,557. Ford replaces James Deanes, once head of the Parent/Community Council, who has a new title: special assistant to the chief executive officer. Salary: $61,244. … Ron Sistrunk, who preceded Ford as CityWide head, also has become a regional LSC facilitator, in Region 5. Salary: $28,020.
Four of the system’s six regions have only one LSC facilitator, but Ford’s Region 3 and Sistrunk’s Region 5 each have two, according to Deanes. Ford shares Region 3 with Pamela Price, formerly a staffer at Parents United for Responsible Education. Her salary is $21,756. Sistrunk’s Region 5 colleague is State Rep. Monique Davis, a longtime board administrator whose new title is school community instruction coordinator. Salary: $65,322. Ford and Davis report directly to their regional education officers; all other LSC facilitators report to School/Community Relations Chief Carlos Azcoitia.
MORE AT PERSHING ROAD Former Chicago Board of Education member Martha Jantho is an executive assistant to Intergovernmental Affairs Director Phil Jackson. Salary: $63,000. Jantho worked as a part-time consultant in Jackson’s office from April through August last year, coming on full time in September. … Acting Communications Director Laura Steele has been promoted to the position permanently. Salary: $75,000.
PRINCIPALS Gale Community Academy Principal Edis Snyder is now a cadre principal in the Office of Accountability. Salary: $88,372.70. Snyder will assist principals throughout the city, especially at schools on probation, according to Intervention Director Phil Hansen. … Edith R. Sims has retired as principal of Corliss High School. … Interim principals Richard Gazda of Von Steuben High and Mary Neely of Lawndale Community Academy have been signed to four-year contracts. … Millicent Rechord, a former Region 4 administrator, has become interim principal of Disney Magnet School.
MOVING UP Sharon Gist Gilliam has become the first member of the Chicago School Board to be named to the Illinois State Board of Education. By law, she must vacate her local board seat, and Mayor Richard M. Daley will name a successor. Neither position is paid. Jim Palos, executive director of the Midtown Educational Foundation, also has been named to the state board. He and Gilliam are the board’s only Chicago members and its only minority members; Gilliam is African American, and Palos is Latino.
STUDENT BOARD MEMBER Whitney Young High School senior Miguel Ayala was elected in December as the honorary student member of the School Reform Board. Ayala is the first Latino and the first openly gay student to hold the position.
EARLY CHILDHOOD DOCUMENTARY In an original documentary to be broadcast at 7 p.m. March 6, WTTW Channel 11 will explore how, from birth, the experiences parents provide their children can influence brain development and, ultimately, enhance children’s lifelong ability to learn. A special, one-hour edition of “Chicago Tonight” will follow at 8 p.m.
THEY’RE BACK After a five-month hiatus, Substance newspaper has resumed publication. A one-year, 11-issue subscription now costs $16. Substance also has a new address: 5132 W. Berteau; Chicago, IL 60641. Phone: (773) 725-6182.