As to his professional relationship with NEIU prior to his appointment to the Board of Trustees on Nov. 16, Carlos Azcoitia said “I’ve had none whatsoever. This is my first meeting.”
At that first meeting, Azcoitia abstained from voting to confirm the new university presidential appointee Sharon Hahs, saying “I just now had a chance to review the information,” as he was not a member of the search committee that selected her.
Azcoitia’s credentials include a doctorate in education from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor’s from the University of Puerto Rico. He is a former deputy chief education officer for Chicago Public Schools and currently serves as the principal at John Spry Community School.
In his brief speech to the board on Thursday, he said that he is “looking forward to being a member of the Board of Trustees and working with the university community. We need to work together on quality issues that affect the diverse constituents of this school.
“This is my neighborhood university. When I was a teacher, I had student teachers that came from Northeastern, and now, as a principal, I have an assistant principal from NEIU. There’s a personal connection here for me.”
Azcoitia said that first and foremost, he would like to address gross teacher shortages in certain departments, which he believes needs to be discussed amongst the Board.
He also noted that he has “read some articles about our graduation rates, and I think that we have to take a look at how students’ needs are being attended to.
As a principal, I want 100% graduation rates. Many times, people bring excuses about minority populations into their arguments [about poor student retention]. I think that you need to create environments in which students from all backgrounds can succeed, and I’d like to contribute to that.”