Looking Back on the Incredible Career of Our Chief Schools Officer

It all started in an eighth-grade classroom. The teacher was Mrs. Voyia Davis. Beautiful. Classy. Elegant. These are the adjectives one of the students in that classroom—now CPS Chief Schools Officer Felicia Sanders—uses to describe the teacher who inspired her to pursue education as a career. 

“Mrs. Davis was very caring yet very firm,” said Felicia. “She embraced all of her students and I thought she had to be one of the smartest people in the world. I longed to be just like her.” 

From her first year of teaching, Felicia saw firsthand how strong school leadership is essential for helping a school and its teachers reach new heights. She believes the relationship between the principal and the assistant principal is extremely important. In her first role, the principal was the visionary, and the assistant principal was the executor. She thought she had the best leadership team a teacher could ask for. 

Her leadership team encouraged her to maximize her contributions to her school community. In fact, in her more than 30 years of service to CPS, she has never had a summer off. She taught summer school from her first year as a teacher. She also received consistent mentorship that led her to become involved in her school’s continuous improvement efforts and lead an after-school academic enrichment program. 

As she reflects on her years in the classroom and the principal’s office, the memories start flooding back. She recalls one student who struggled with both learning and his behavior. He was initially in another classroom. Because Felicia had developed a reputation for having a way with kids, he was eventually transferred into her class. At first, it was a challenge. But Felicia refused to give up on him. And, over the course of the school year, he displayed tremendous growth. 

“On the last day of the school year, when all of the other kids left to be dismissed, he stayed behind,” she said. “He ran to me and said: ‘I love you. I’ll never forget you.’” 

Felicia spent almost a decade as a principal. She found that when you come to know so many kids, you are able to see the impact you had on their lives—but sometimes not until years later. She had one little girl who experienced the tragic death of her mother. Felicia says that this student became the “school baby,” because members of the school community came together to ensure that she had new clothes and other essentials. She made sure that this student knew that she was loved and cared for. 

About six years later, she had become a network chief responsible for overseeing a portfolio of elementary and high schools on Chicago’s South Side. She did not know that her “school baby” was now a student at one of those high schools. By chance, she ran into her while visiting that school. And she was able to make a difference in her life once more—making sure she had everything she needed to look her best at her prom a few days later. 

Felicia recalls that, as a principal, she had a four-year stretch where she didn’t have to hire anyone new. She had absolutely no turnover. She became known as a school leader whose impact was so transformative that it helped alleviate issues in the larger community. These qualities made her an ideal candidate to transition into network and District leadership. Her school was extremely sad to see her go and sent her off with an unforgettable surprise going away assembly. 

“My music teacher at the time was a really nice lady. She actually wrote a song for me for this assembly,” said Felicia. “I can still remember the refrain and the melody—it went: ‘Thank you, Ms. Sanders. Thank you, Ms. Sanders. I’m so glad you changed my life.’” 

Having worked at schools primarily on the South Side, her first network-level role was an eye-opening one. She served as a deputy chief for a stretch of schools miles away from where she had been a principal. She’ll never forget her first time guiding the principals in her network through the budgetary process. It made her realize that not all schools have the same ways to build up their budgets. 

Felicia’s mantra—Every Child, Every School, Every Day—directly connects to what she learned during this time. It made her realize that, on a District level, equity needs to be a top priority. She commends former CEO Dr. Janice Jackson for recognizing the inequities that existed and taking steps to reduce them, work that has continued under current CEO Pedro Martinez. 

In her various leadership roles, Felicia was able to advance equity by mentoring those working in our schools every day. She is proud of her efforts to build the instructional leadership capacity of the principals in her network, noting that some of them have shared that the strategies she encouraged them to use have led to visible improvement in their schools. She also launched an annual teacher academy, which transformed one of her network’s schools into a space filled to the brim with professional development opportunities. 

Now, as Chief Schools Officer, she oversees the CPS Office of Network Support (ONS), which she believes she is leaving in a good place. 

“I’ve hired a majority of our current network chiefs and deputy network chiefs, who are all highly qualified and well respected. I feel like we have a very strong team overall,” she said. “Of course, the new leader will implement their vision, but I believe there are building blocks in place that they can continue to build upon in service of our students.” 

As her long career with CPS comes to a close, Felicia says she is at peace about retiring. She notes that, at first, her family had reservations about her pursuing teaching because they thought she could make more money elsewhere. But she believed that following her passion was more important than anything else. She doesn’t have any regrets about the decisions she’s made in any of her roles over the past three decades, and she will continue to root for the District once she officially becomes a former CPS employee.

“I hope that CPS will continue its culture of success, and that schools will continue to have the resources, staff, and partnerships that will enable them to advance student outcomes,” she said. “I have been unashamedly student-centered, and that coupled with my resilience has pushed me to do what is best for our kids year after year.”