To be referred to the Committee on Education and Child Development
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Karen GJ Lewis was born on the South Side of Chicago on July 20, 1953, to parents who were CPS educators;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis attended Kenwood High School, but utilized the academic privilege to attend Mount Holyoke College before she received her high school diploma;
WHEREAS, as a student, Mrs. Lewis took part in boycotts at Kenwood to demand an increase in Black teachers and administrators, the incorporation of Black history as part of the curriculum, and improved resources for predominantly Black schools in Chicago;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis transferred from Mount Holyoke College to Dartmouth College during the era of de-segregation and co-educational reform, and became the only Black female graduate of the Class of 1974 with degrees in music and sociology;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis also attained a master's degree in Inner City Studies from Chicago's Northeastern Illinois University, a critical institution for the education of Black and working class Chicagoans;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis began her 22-year career with Chicago Public Schools as a substitute teacher, whose determination and passion led her to become a full-time teacher at Sullivan High School, Lane Tech College Prep and King College Prep;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis, in her career as an educator, believed in teaching the whole child, and, as she said, "measured [her] success as a teacher by the hugs at the end of the year, by the conversations with kids who say, 'I never thought of it that way.'"
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis joined the Chicago Teachers Union in 1988, and became a fierce advocate for increased school funding, transparency in administration, and social justice within education and beyond;
WHEREAS, Mrs. Lewis became a CTU delegate at Lane Tech, where she received her national board certification and helped lead efforts to integrate students of color and students from working families into a student body which was historically white...
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