Chicago Teachers Union President Defends Sending Son to Private School, Blames ‘Inequities’ in Public System

The president of the Chicago Teachers Union on Thursday defended sending one of her children to a private Catholic high school, citing “inequities” in the city’s educational options.

Stacy Davis Gates attempted to explain the decision in an email to parents sent after it was revealed last week that the eldest of her three children attends a private institution, even as Davis Gates has remained an outspoken advocate for public education, according to local outlets including NBC5.

“You may have seen the recent online attacks against my family and our union related to the school where my eldest child recently enrolled,” Davis Gates, who had not directly responded to news outlets’ requests for comment as of Thursday evening, began the email.

“Let’s be clear: this crosses a line,” wrote Davis Gates, claiming that “a disgruntled former CTU employee” with a personal vendetta had doxxed her teenage son. She did not identify that person by name.

While pushing back against how the information went public, Davis Gates defended her choice to send her son to a private school.

“While our fights and continued advocacy have secured more school resources, the inequities remain alarming,” she wrote. “Public and charter high schools in our Black and Brown neighborhoods are living and breathing examples of inequality. Nearly all lack the thriving extracurricular activities, sports programs, wraparound services or other ingredients that make for a high-quality neighborhood public school.”

Davis Gates wrote that those inequities earlier this year “forced” her and her husband to send her son to a private school, where he could pursue his dream of playing soccer at a high level “while also having a curriculum that can meet his social and emotional needs.”

Davis Gates’ two daughters remain enrolled in Chicago public schools, she wrote.

Davis Gates has previously spoken about how her family’s ties to the city’s public school system inform her advocacy.

"I'm also a mother. My children go to Chicago Public Schools,” she said in March 2022, according to NBC5. “These are the things that legitimize my space within the coalition."

And, speaking last year to Chicago magazine, Davis Gates said, “I can’t advocate on behalf of public education and the children of this city and educators in this city without it taking root in my own household.”

While Davis Gates had not responded to press inquiries as of late Thursday, another public education advocate spoke out against what she characterized as a coordinated effort to make both public schools and union officials look bad while distracting from larger issues.

"The fight here is to actually have strong public schools and serve all kids; individual choices of some parents are irrelevant to that, and the real choices that matter are the choices that our elected officials are making," said Cassie Cresswell, of Illinois Families for Public Schools, according to local outlet ABC7.

Neither the union nor Chicago Public Schools had responded to local outlets’ requests for comment by late Thursday.