Rachel Resnick

Ms. Resnick began her 33-year Chicago Public School career as a kindergarten teacher at Joseph Stockton School, and later worked as a primary teacher at William Goudy, Lazaro Cardenas and Eugene Field Elementary Schools. In September 1994, she became the principal of Eugene Field where she focused on increasing student achievement and creating a more engaging and safer learning environment. In December 2002, Ms. Resnick joined the Office of Management and Budget as Deputy Budget Director, to advise school principals on best use of financial resources. In 2004, she was asked to become Deputy Officer of Early Childhood Education to oversee all early childhood programs, including kindergarten, Child-Parent Centers, Head Start, Preschools for All and the Tuition-based preschool programs.

In July 2005, Arne Duncan, Chief Executive Officer, selected Ms. Resnick to be Chief Labor Relations Officer, a position she held until her retirement in June 2012. While Chief Labor Relations Officer, Ms. Resnick and the CPS negotiating team, reached agreement to 5-year contracts with the Board’s six labor unions. She also led development of the CPS Framework for Teaching and laid groundwork for the CPS Excellence in Teaching Pilot Program that became a model for observation-based teacher support and feedback in the district and the state of Illinois. She helped craft the 2010 Performance Evaluation Reform Act of 2010 and the Education Reform Act of 2011. She served on the Illinois State Board of Education Performance Evaluation Advisory Council that developed initial rules for teacher and principal support and evaluation. Ms. Resnick served as the CPS representative on the State of Illinois Teacher Certification Board from 2010 through 2012.

Upon CPS retirement in June 2012, Ms. Resnick worked a year with the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) recruiting and mentoring principals for AUSL turnaround schools. For several years, Ms. Resnick was a member of the CPS-CTU Teacher Evaluation Appeals Committee that reviewed appeals to determine whether evaluation ratings should be upheld. Today, she sits as one of two District representatives on the CPS-CTU Mediation/Arbitration Panel, which reviews employee discipline cases.