OPINION:  Halt the Current CPS CEO Selection Process and Install Dr. Macquline King as CEO Through the School Year

On behalf of the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP, and with the support of the undersigned organizations, I write to express our deep concern, profound disappointment, and growing alarm regarding the current Chicago Public Schools CEO selection process. 

We do not believe this process should continue. 

At a moment when Chicago’s students, families, educators, and school communities need stability, clarity, and trusted leadership, this process has produced the opposite. It has raised serious questions about transparency, consistency, and accountability. It has created confusion where there should have been confidence. It has weakened trust where trust was already fragile. That is unacceptable for a decision of this magnitude. 

The Board must stop this process now. 

This is not a casual disagreement over preference or personality. This is a serious concern about governance, legitimacy, and the public’s ability to trust the people charged with leading one of the most important public institutions in our city. Chicago Public Schools cannot afford another leadership decision shaped by uncertainty, mixed signals, and a process that too many stakeholders do not view as credible. 

We also want to be unequivocal about where we stand. The Chicago Westside Branch NAACP supports Dr. Macquline King. 

Dr. King has already demonstrated that she can lead this district under pressure, through complexity, and during a period of extraordinary challenge. Her leadership has been steady, substantive, and proven. She helped deliver a balanced FY26 budget despite a significant shortfall. She led meaningful community budget engagement across the city. She supported a successful districtwide school opening. She negotiated and settled a historic Principal Association Agreement. She strengthened federal response and compliance efforts, and restored critical grant-monitoring protections. She improved communication with board members, alderpersons, and state leaders. She helped identify support for services that directly affect students’ and families’ safety and well-being. 

That is not potential. That is performance. 

For that reason, the most responsible and defensible course of action is clear. The Board should cease the current CEO selection process and formally install Dr. King as CEO through the 2026 to 2027 school year, with the full authority, title, and institutional support the role requires. 

Anything less would be a failure of judgment. 

To continue moving forward with this process despite the serious concerns surrounding it would send the wrong message to the public. It would suggest that demonstrated leadership is secondary to a process that has not inspired confidence. It would suggest that stability is negotiable. It would suggest that the voices of families, communities, and stakeholders who have raised legitimate concerns can be acknowledged and then ignored. 

That is not how public trust is rebuilt. That is how it is further damaged. 

The people of this city deserve better. Our children deserve better. Our school communities deserve better. 

Chicago’s students should not be forced to absorb the consequences of a rushed or untrustworthy leadership process. Families should not have to wonder who is truly making this decision or whether the outcome was shaped behind closed doors in ways that do not reflect public accountability. Educators should not be asked to navigate more instability when the district already has a leader who has shown she can do the job. Communities like ours should not be expected to quietly accept a process that has left far too many unanswered questions. 

We are calling on the Board to act with discipline, restraint, and integrity. Demonstrate that public trust, sound governance, and proven leadership still matter. 

This moment will not be judged only by who is selected. It will be judged by whether those entrusted with this decision had the courage to choose the path that best serves students and respects the public. 

We urge you to do so now. 

— Remel Terry, president, Westside Branch NAACP