Did Curie LSC members need translator?

March 15, 2007
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
Some Hispanics on the local school council that voted to oust Curie High Principal Jerryelyn Jones were "deprived of hearing the principal's accomplishments'' because they had no translator during a key presentation by Jones to the LSC, the head of the Chicago Principals Association charged Wednesday.

The Feb. 10 vote to dump Jones should be invalidated because LSC members not fully fluent in English were asked "to vote on information they never understood,'' association president Clarice Berry said.


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At other meetings, Berry said, Curie LSC member Norma Valle translated.
But when Jones spoke for more than an hour Jan. 24, outlining her accomplishments as part of the principal selection process, "suddenly she [Valle] was not translating any more,'' Berry said.

Jones offered to bring a translator on the day of her presentation, but LSC Chairman Tom Ramos said she didn't need one, Berry said.

CPS spokesman Michael Vaughn confirmed that CPS officials are looking into the allegations.

During Jones' videotaped Jan. 24 presentation, according to Otis Davis, a Jones supporter and LSC member, at least two Spanish-speaking LSC members "sat there mute,'' like "puppets.''

Ramos called the new allegations "ridiculous'' but refused to say if any LSC members needed translators.


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