The head of special education at Chicago Public Schools has stepped down following pressure for her ouster over the use of physical restraint in schools and other criticism of how the district has treated students with disabilities.
Stephanie Jones, chief of the Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services, or ODLSS, left her role Friday, according to a CPS spokesperson. Richard Smith, most recently an administrator within that office, will take over as interim chief as the district conducts a nationwide search for her replacement.
“We sincerely thank Dr. Jones for her commitment to serving students in Chicago with diverse learning needs, and we wish her well in her future endeavors,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement that did not state why Jones resigned. “CPS, just like other employers, does not share the details of personnel matters as we are committed to protecting the privacy and rights of our employees.”
Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union demanded Jones resign for “dismal failures to protect the district’s most vulnerable students,” alleging violation of special education laws, a “toxic workplace that has left the department in shambles” and failure to fulfill the legal requirements on supporting students with disabilities. The union’s House of Delegates took a vote of no confidence in her.
“Tonight our members said, enough,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates wrote in a statement after the vote. “Enough with the lack of services and support, enough with ignoring the needs of our students, and enough with violating state law.”
Special education advocates and the CTU have criticized Jones for several years, including over the ongoing state oversight after CPS was found to have denied services to students with disabilities, and over recent disclosure that the district violated state laws on the use of physical restraint and isolation of students.
The Illinois State Board of Education has warned the district four times to comply with state law on physical restraint, most recently in April threatening to place CPS on probation if the violations are not remedied.
Violations alleged by the state agency range from CPS allowing untrained staff members to restrain students unnecessarily — sometimes for more than an hour or through the use of prohibited methods — to the district’s failure to notify parents and review and report all incidents to ISBE.
Another ISBE official had written CPS in November to say that its “complete disregard for the health and safety of its students and blatant violation of state law is unconscionable.” The state’s investigation, sparked by violations made apparent in the district’s own reporting of incidents, found issues “jeopardizing the health and safety of CPS students and staff” that remained ongoing at the time of the April 18 letter.
When asked earlier this week whether anyone in CPS would be accountable for the violations, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez did not answer and pivoted to talking about the district’s commitment to special education students.
Following CTU’s call for Jones’ dismissal, a CPS spokesperson said last week that “significant strategic changes to the department have been in motion for some time and pre-date any public statements calling for personnel decisions, which are separate and distinct from the District’s review and work to improve services.”
CPS’ use of restraint, isolation and timeout procedures is not limited to special education students, but Jones was the designated official responsible for being notified of, reviewing and maintaining records of every such incident.
“Ask me what the top priority for next year’s budget (is): diverse learners. Ask me where we’re putting the most resources? Diverse learners,” Martinez said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference. “So, not an excuse. But we will make sure that this is corrected. … This is a narrative that’s been a challenge in our district for the last two decades, but we’re going to fix it.”
CPS said in its Friday statement that the district continues to implement its “Three-Year Blueprint” on special education services and “one of our top priority areas is reimagining how CPS can best serve students with diverse learning needs to ensure that all students access positive, inclusive, and rewarding academic and extracurricular experiences.”
Jones was first tapped for the role as ODLSS chief in 2019 by former CPS CEO Janice Jackson. In an email to staff obtained by the Tribune, Jones told her now-former colleagues, “Although much work is still needed, we applaud what has been accomplished in these short four years within such a large district,” and listed accomplishments such as being the “longest standing leader in ODLSS in over one decade” and increasing the graduation rate of special education students.
In a Friday letter to CPS parents, Martinez thanked Jones for “her commitment to serving students in Chicago with diverse learning needs.”
“Our central goal during this transitional period will be to equip our ODLSS teams and educators with the resources and support they need to provide a high-quality education for our diverse learners,” Martinez wrote.
The start of ISBE’s formal monitoring of CPS’ special education services predated Jones’ appointment four years ago and ended in fall 2022, but the district failed to exit state oversight completely under her leadership and remains under an “enhanced general supervision plan,” according to CPS records.
The state monitoring began in 2018, two years after officials concluded the district’s revamp of special education services had violated federal law and regulations, and was scheduled to last at least three years. Then-CEO Jackson opposed the independent oversight but later complied.
Among the policies the state found denied students services were requiring overly complicated forms that shut out many qualifying students simply because of paperwork problems, denying transportation while citing arbitrary reasons and failing to get struggling students into therapeutic schools during crises.
