Chicago Public Schools and Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman must be more open with parents and neighborhood leaders seeking solutions at their neighborhood schools.

In recent weeks, parents have complained about poor school choices in the neighborhoods served by John M. Smyth Elementary School on West 13th Street. On Aug. 26 Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) and Ald. Danny Solis (25th) sent a letter to Huberman asking for an expanded magnet school option for children south of the Eisenhower Expressway along with improvements at Smyth by next school year.

No articulated public response has come from CPS on the issues laid out and solutions offered by the neighborhoods and their leaders. What has come out of CPS are non-answers and misdirection in the lowest form of Orwellian gobbledygook.

This newspaper is not alone on the journey to Oz. Also on the road are parents, citizens and LSC members who are quick to say that speaking with or getting answers from CPS leadership is a useless struggle.

For weeks, Chicago Journal attempted to get comments from CPS through official channels on several issues raised in the 2nd and 25th wards. One spokesperson took our newspaper’s questions in writing.

The CPS response shed not a single beam of light. Regarding the possibility of the aldermanic request becoming a reality for their wards, CPS gave the following non-answer: “We’ve been engaged in discussion with local elected officials and other stakeholders on this issue and will continue to engage with them in pursuit of a viable solution to meet their concerns.”

In response to a question asking why, after years of alleged improved programs and claims of success at Smyth, less than 50 percent of its students reach state standards in reading and math, a spokesperson put a positive spin on the low scores.

“On the contrary, test scores at Smyth have shown marked increases in recent years,” wrote a CPS spokesperson.

A search of Google News for “Huberman promises transparency” yielded no results. True to that result, CPS this week did not answer a single question regarding the interim principal installed at Galileo Math and Science Academy on South Carpenter Street. last week after denying the Galileo LSC request to advance the acting principal and longtime assistant principal, Blanca Miarka, permanently.

Not answering questions, avoiding public comment and professional accountability for CPS choice and action cuts at the cloth of democracy by hindering the basis of thoughtful decision making by the public and, in this case, neighborhood parents.