Chicago City Wire

Paul Vallas, former Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), expressed concerns that Chicago leaders are neglecting the persistent dangers faced by students while focusing on issues related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Vallas made this statement on the social media platform X.

"Chicago is keeping its place of ignominy, with 189 students shot or murdered thus far in 2025," said Vallas. "Since 2019, there have been 2,043 school-age children murdered or wounded, fueled largely by CTU leadership forcing schools to stay shut for 78 straight weeks in defiance of the science. Despite the carnage and continued danger to our students, Mayor Johnson and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and associates deliberately stoke fear about “imminent” ICE raids to deflect from their policy failures. The children of our city face danger every day that no one is addressing."

Rising gun violence and student safety concerns in Chicago have intensified policy debates involving the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), city leadership, and CPS regarding how best to ensure student safety both within schools and in surrounding neighborhoods. Analysts have noted that more than 100 children and teenagers have been shot within a tenth of a mile of city schools in recent years. This situation raises questions about safe passage, school-based policing, and whether CPS and the city can effectively protect students from community violence. The CTU has publicly called for more resources and protections for educators and pupils rather than relying solely on law enforcement responses.

According to the Illinois Policy Institute, CPS reported a 26% increase in violent crime incidents in 2023 compared to the previous year, while campus-related arrest rates dropped to just 8% of violent school incidents. An external analysis found that over 100 children and teenagers had been shot within close proximity of Chicago school campuses over a recent five-year span. These figures highlight the urgency and scale of gun violence exposure near schools.

National data from Education Week indicate that K–12 school shootings with injuries or deaths reached 39 in 2023, with similar figures in previous years. Chicago-specific studies show major clusters of "school-adjacent" shootings exceeding thousands annually, suggesting that the city's student-safety challenge is part of a broader national rise in school-site and near-school violence.

Vallas served as CEO of CPS from 1995 to 2001 before leading large districts in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Bridgeport. His reform agenda emphasized expanded charter schools, stricter discipline, and extended school hours. During his 2023 mayoral campaign in Chicago, he focused on student safety, longer school day access, and securing schools as community hubs.

Chicago Public Schools is the public school district serving approximately 316,224 students across around 630 schools during the 2025-26 academic year. It operates under mayoral control via the Chicago Board of Education and faces significant challenges related to student safety, facility usage, enrollment decline, assigning each school a Safety Manager under its Student Safety & Security division.