Chicago Public Schools (CPS) celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month through programming and curricula highlighting the heritage and history of Latinx/e and Hispanic Americans. Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place between September 15 and October 15, resonates in a District where nearly half of the more than 320,000 students identify as Hispanic, including CPS alum and CEO Pedro Martinez, who emigrated with his family from Mexico to Chicago when he was five. “As a CPS kid growing up in Pilsen, my community gave me strength and pride in my heritage and I wholeheartedly celebrate all of our students’ cultural identities this month and throughout the year,” said CEO Martinez. “We know that we become stronger as individuals and as a community when we learn from each other and become multicultural and multilingual citizens.”  School-level events include assemblies where Latinx/e themes are celebrated through music, movies, dance, board games, and community fellowship. The District’s Latinx/e students, listed in 2024 as 47 percent of the student population, are not only at the forefront of record-breaking academic achievements at CPS, they are also seeing school staff who represent their communities. Almost 49 percent of new CPS teachers identify as Black or Latinx/e, up from 33 percent in 2017, and 60 percent of new CPS teachers identify as teachers of color, up from 38 percent in 2017. The District has nearly 2,500 more teachers this school year than in 2019.