IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Voting in the Edison LSC election on April 13, 2016 is the most concrete way you can continue to express your support for Mrs. Oberhardt. We've created this website, which provides a list of endorsed Edison LSC candidates—voting for them helps to achieve our goals!

POST-ELECTION UPDATE: We did it! Thanks to your votes and support, the candidates we've endorsed overwhelmingly won in the April 13 Edison LSC elections. The fight is still ongoing, but we've made huge strides toward our goal!

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On Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, the Edison RGC Local School Council (LSC) will vote whether or not to renew Mrs. Oberhardt's contract for another four years. There is considerable urgency to this matter, as the LSC will almost certainly vote to not renew her contract. This will effectively end her tenure as principal of Edison at the conclusion of this school year.

By signing this petition, you show your support for Mrs. Oberhardt's direction and dedication to the students of Edison, the Edison community, faculty and staff, and for continuing her tenure at Edison.

It's important to note that there are always legitimate criticisms that can be made of school administrators, and that they may not always navigate the challenges surrounding curricula, fiscal matters, and staffing decisions in a way that's ideal to everyone. Invariably, administrative and policy tradeoffs must be made, and it's not always possible to address everyone's individual grievances. However, as a signatory to this petition, you affirm that Mrs. Oberhardt has balanced these competing needs and interests in a way that has served the Edison community well, and has led to continual improvement of our school.

Related to these tradeoffs are the need for the stakeholders here to balance relative risks. And there are huge risks with terminating a principal, possibly demoralizing a large portion of the faculty/staff that has expressed their unanimous support for Mrs. Oberhardt, and finding a capable replacement. We also know those risks are greatly magnified by the tremendous challenges already faced by CPS. 

By signing this petition, you register your support for the renewal of Mrs. Oberhardt's contract as principal of Edison Regional Gifted Center—and/or given the limited information currently available to the larger Edison community, that not renewing her contract presents unacceptable risks.