TROY LARAVIERE – Chicago Principal & Public School Advocate
Troy LaRaviere is the principal of one of the highest performing neighborhood schools in Chicago, and a relentless defender of public education. His is one of only five principals (out of more than 600) whose school met at least three of the Mayor’s four merit award criteria for three consecutive years. In 2013 he became the first Chicago principal to speak against the destructive school policies of Chicago’s mayor, with a powerful speech at City Hall. In 2014 he wrote a compelling Op-Ed that generated significant media coverage of City Hall’s heavy-handed approach to silencing principals.
Troy has published research that revealed public schools produced significantly more academic growth in students than charter schools; exposed filthy conditions in Chicago schools that were the result of botched custodial privatization deal; and uncovered the manipulation of charter school test score data by CPS officials. He has twice been a featured panelist at the influential City Club of Chicago, and his statement in support of parents opting their children out of PARCC testing was one of the Washington Post’s most read articles. His print and television interviews have been widely circulated.
Troy identifies himself as a public servant and, as such, he believes his job is to not to serve politicians but to serve the public; serve the public by keeping them informed of the impact of our school district’s corrupt, inept, and incompetent decision-making. Today LaRaviere continues to lead his school while working to inform the public of the dangers of the sub-standard parasitic school system reorganization underway in Chicago and across the country. He is a passionate and engaging writer and orator who communicates with sharp insight and boundless passion.
My son attends our neighborhood public school. Someday he will inherit this city, but he will not inherit it alone. He will inherit it with his classmates. They will move this city forward together. So if I care about the kind of Chicago my son will live and work in, I have to care as much about the education of his classmates as I do about his. If we want a Chicago that will offer safety and prosperity for our own children, we must work with renewed intensity to ensure that all of our city’s children realize their fullest potential. These children are Chicago.
–T. LaRaviere
On LaRaviere
“Man, oh man—LaRaviere’s piece is the greatest tell-it-like-it-is putdown of phonies since Bob Dylan went off in ‘Positively 4th Street….’ His essay exploded like a bomb. Within hours, thousands of principals, teachers, and parents were e-mailing it back and forth as if to say, finally—someone on the inside dares to tell the truth!”
–Ben Joravsky, author of Hoop Dreams, and 2010 Illinois Journalist of the Year
“First, this guy got a full page in the Sun-Times on Saturday. Now, a story as well? When does he get a column?”
— Email to the Chicago Tribune from John Kupper, political advisor to Rahm Emanuel
“Where does a man like Troy LaRaviere come from? Where does his courage come from? Why is he able to stand tall and be fearless when so many others quake in the face of power? Why are there not hundreds and thousands of principals and superintendents like Troy LaRaviere? All I can say is ‘Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for your inspiration.’”
—Diane Ravitch, Education Historian, Assistant US Secretary of Education (1991-93)
“He is clearly one of our most distinguished principals.”
–Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools
He can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at (773) 494-2528.
