Opinion
By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Here we go again, five years later.
Judy Mahoney, a well liked and much respected clerk at Byrne School, has once again been kicked to the curb by a Chicago Public Schools bureaucracy that knows how to spend (and often waste) literally billions of tax dollars every year, but won't find funds to pay the wages of a valued employee who happens to use a wheelchair. |
| Judy Mahoney at Byrne this week. |
(For background on this maddening tale, please scroll all the way down and read Joan Hadac's Southwest Chicago Post story from 2021.)
Apparently, when CPS (under public pressure from the SWCP and many others) gave Judy a five-year extension in 2021, they must have thought she'd just go away quietly in 2026.
Has not happened.
"I like my job here at Byrne. I love what I do," Judy said this week. "Plus, let's be realistic. At age 54, I'm just not ready to retire. I need the income, and I need the health insurance."
Judy says she told CPS brass last February that she does not intend to retire.
Their response?
"It's been nothing but crickets [from CPS]. No one has reached out to me," she says. I sent three follow-up emails, and no response whatsoever, not even an acknowledgement that they received my emails."
From everyone at Byrne I've spoken with, Judy appears to have support from top to bottom at the school: the prinicipal, faculty, staff, parents and students alike. And Judy does important work critical to keeping the school humming: maintaining attendance records, budgeting, purchase orders, payroll and so forth.
But for the moment, the clock is ticking on Judy's employment at CPS. And that clock runs out at month's end, although Judy's last official day at Byrne is June 8. On top of that, finding a comparable position within CPS is nearly impossible, especially when you consider that as many as half of all CPS schools are inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs--a scandalous situation given that it's been 36 years since passage of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
And it's taking a toll on Judy.
"I haven't slept well in the last four months," she says. "I have bags under my eyes, I'm crying. This is all so unnecessarily stressful for me."
What amazes me in all this is how, even after all the past bungling and stonewaling by CPS bureaucrats downtown, they still refuse to fix the situation, when it would be so easy for them to do so. Easier than ever when you consider that the Chicago Teachers Union essentially controls both CPS and even their man at City Hall, Mayor Brandon Johnson.
And CTU is second to none in endlessly braying about how public schools in Chicago must be fully staffed.
Anyway, Judy took her case to the most recent Chicago Board of Education meeting, held just last week.
In the "public comment" portion of the meeting, her husband read a statement from her, and Judy's sister and daughter voiced the support at the microphone. Scroll down to read those three statements.
* * *
Statement by Judy Mahoney, as read aloud by her husband:
"Hello, I am reading this on behalf of my wife, Judy Mahoney.
"I have proudly served Chicago Public Schools for over 30 years as a bilingual school clerk. In 2017, our lives changed instantly when a drunk driver left me paralyzed from the waist down. I fought through rehab to return to work, but instead of being accommodated, I was forced to compete for vacancies across the district.
"Eight years ago, CPS temporarily placed me at Byrne Elementary. I have successfully done my job there ever since. I am not only a clerk at Byrne — I am one of the first faces families see. School clerks like me are anchors in the daily operations that keep schools running smoothly.
"Now, I face a layoff—not because of my performance, but because of my disability. I would not be in this position if Whittier, my original school, was wheelchair accessible. After returning, CPS should have placed me in a permanent role that sustained me until I was financially ready to retire on my own terms. I feel like a pawn on a chess board being moved around.
"Since I joined Byrne, the staff grew from 60 to 94 employees— yet my role is still treated as a temporary ADA placement instead of a permanent one.
"After years of annual uncertainty, emotional strain, and repeated pleas- CPS finally agreed four years ago to fund my position through the end of this school year, when I believed I might be ready to retire. However, at 54 years old, I am not financially able to retire.
"I shouldn't have to mobilize the media, the LSC, the CTU, elected officials, and the Byrne community just to keep a job I have already proven I can excel at from this wheelchair. This isn’t just a legal failure by CPS; it is a moral one.
"I am asking CPS to practice the equity and inclusion they preach. Allow me to continue serving the Byrne community with dignity. Mobility is a fragile gift, and anyone in this room is one moment away from joining my community.
"We can do better. We must do better.”
* * *
Statement by Judy's sister, Maria Nava:
"I stand before you on behalf of every person who has been denied access to a school building due to its inaccessibility.
"We would not be here today if all CPS school buildings were wheelchair accessible. As a special education teacher, I know firsthand that CPS falls short when providing accessibility for our students. If a student requires a wheelchair, CPS simply transfers them to a different, accessible school. But why? We live in an advanced era, yet we still rely on outdated, inaccessible buildings.
"With the utmost respect, I want to quote Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words: "I have a dream." I, too, have a dream—that every CPS school will someday be accessible to everyone. In the meantime, my dream is that every employee who works for CPS can rest assured knowing that if they should ever require a wheelchair, CPS will do the right thing. They will accommodate them at an accessible school where they can continue performing their public service. A wheelchair should never force a person to reapply for their job, nor should they be laid off or pushed into retirement.
"I encourage every parent, student, employee, and board member to come together to change this inadequate policy. At the end of the day, any one of us could find ourselves in my sister’s situation. Reflect on that for one moment. Just put yourself in her place. Thank you for listening.
* * *
Statement by Judy's daughter, Brittney Findley:
"Hi everyone, thank you for your complete and undivided attention.
"Judy Mahoney, my mother, has worked for CPS for over three decades and in the last nine years of her employment she has had to fight tooth and nail to keep her position due to the negligence of over 50% of schools not being fully ADA compliant. This includes Whittier School, which is the school she was pushed out of when a car accident in 2017 left her paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound.
"Judy did not quit her job or ask to relocate; she was forced out because the school could not and would not be made accessible to her. It is now 2026 and nearly one half of schools need to be upgraded. The effects of this are typically unseen by the able-bodied but are largely felt by families who rely on accessibility, whether a parent wishes to attend their child’s school for events or a child that should be in a school close to home but has to be bussed across the city to an accessible school.
"Accessibility is a human right, and no one should have to find themselves unwelcome to a location because they're unable to traverse it. Byrne School, specifically, which has been Judy's home since her accident, is underfunded administratively compared to neighboring schools and is somehow unable to locate the funds to keep Judy Mahoney employed. Furthermore, think about the message being sent to students, particularly those with disabilities.
"Are we teaching them that their dedication, their talent and their hard work mean nothing if a building isn't built for them? That a lack of accessibility is a boundary to their worth? Personally, as a mother of two small children, I hope to instill values and morals rooted in empathy which the world can really benefit from, and we can start right here."
* * *
Background
Original SWCP story from 2021:
By Joan Hadac
Editor and Publisher
Southwest Chicago Post
Last month, it was announced that Chicago Public Schools District 299 is receiving a total of more than $2.79 billion, the largest federal aid package in CPS history.
This month, they apparently can’t find funds to save the job of a clerk at a school in Garfield Ridge.
That’s the gist of Judy Mahoney’s story.
Since 2018, Judy has worked as a clerk at Byrne Elementary School. But now she’s being pushed out, allegedly because there are no funds to cover her salary.
But before I proceed with the story, let’s back up a bit.
Judy was born in Mexico and brought to the U.S. at age 10, in 1981. She grew up in Back of the Yards, attending several grade schools there and then in 1989 graduating from Curie High School.
In 1993 she was hired by CPS and worked for 23 years at Whittier Elementary School, near 23rd and Damen.
Then tragedy struck.
In May 2017, Judy was riding in a vehicle struck head-on by a drunk driver with no insurance.
She suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down. She was off work for eight months as she underwent hospitalization and then grueling rehabilitation work.
“I had to re-learn everything,” Judy recalls. “I was like a baby. I even had to learn to sit up.”
But she persevered, thanks in part to the support and encouragement she received from her husband, three daughters and eight sisters; and though now in a wheelchair (most likely for the rest of her life), Judy was ready to return to work at CPS.
But three decades after passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, many CPS schools remain inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs.
Whittier’s building, more than 100 years old, is one of them. It has never been retrofitted with an elevator. So much for claims by Mayors Daley and Emmanuel that they’d make Chicago the most accessible city in the nation, I guess.
So Judy filed her paperwork to come back to work, but said she had to endure a months-long runaround that left her emotionally exhausted, with CPS officials allegedly dragging their feet in finding her a spot in a wheelchair-accessible school.
In 2018, she landed a position at Byrne and has worked there ever since.
Her bilingual skills are a plus for the school, as is her disability—if only because Judy serves as an everyday reminder to Byrne students that people with disabilities can and do function as equals in the real world, and must be treated as such. In multiple ways, she’s a role model for the boys and girls at Byrne.
But after three years at Byrne, CPS will lay Judy off at the end of June because the Central Office is reportedly ending funding of her salary and Byrne cannot afford her.
When asked for its take on Judy’s situation, a CPS spokesman said, “Three years ago, the district created and funded an additional clerk position at Byrne Elementary to support this employee during a difficult time. Like hundreds of schools, Byrne Elementary is wheelchair accessible, and could meet her needs. Recently, the employee was asked to begin applying for vacant clerk positions at other wheelchair accessible schools, with the district's support. The district remains fully committed to continuing to work with the employee to find a new position at another school that meets her needs. Any suggestion the district has been unsupportive of this employee is uninformed."
A request for comment from Byrne Principal Elizabeth Gallo went unanswered.
So Judy’s struggle continues, and it’s not easy, she says.
“I’m old school. I take pride in my job. I’m professional. I show up for work every day. What’s being done to me is hurtful. It pains me that they don’t have any compassion for me. This is destroying my emotional state of mind.”
A petition to pressure Mayor Lightfoot, CPS and the Chicago Board of Education has reportedly attracted more than 7,000 signatures thus far. If you want to sign it, click here.
The Byrne Local School Council will meet at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 2 via Zoom. Not sure if they will discuss this matter, but visit byrnecps.org to obtain details on how to attend.
Additionally, it looks like Judy's CTU colleagues will picket or conduct some sort of a demonstration soon at the school.
