Staying in the Game, Part I

Chicago

James Deanes used to be on the outside looking in at the Chicago public schools. As the head of the Parent/Community Council, an advisory group created in 1987 by then-Mayor Harold Washington, Mr. Deanes for years was a well-known reform activist.

Now, he has a new vantage point--from inside the headquarters of the nation's third-largest school district. Mr. Deanes is a human-relations officer for Mayor Richard M. Daley's reform board of trustees, working with communities and the local school councils...