But that was my reaction. I have never in my life seen an envelope like this. It measures 15 inches long by 7 inches wide. It extended like a greedy tongue from our mail box. Custom stationery like that costs a fortune, perhaps a dollar per envelope, according to my favorite printer, Sargon at Quicker Printers, 6116 North Broadway, (773)  334.1919. 

Not that it doesn’t sound like a fabulous time. “Millenium Park Rooftop Terrace. Live performance by Seal. Dancing into the night.” I’m sure it’s well worth the $1,000 ticket, or the $50,000 “Principal” or $25,000 “Teacher” sponsorship. 

It’s just that I can’t keep the image from my mind of a lot of smug, rich people drinking and dancing atop the broken lives of poor children.        

Speaking of which.

CPS’s Renaissance 2010 folks continue to act like the narcissistically proud parents of a not-very-bright, not-very-well-mannered child. “Isn’t Mommy’s little angel special????”

Aren’t our new schools so booootifully “innovative” and “high-performing”?????

Well, not really. 

Yesterday’s Rand Corp. report essentially damned CPS charters with faint praise. “(I)n grades K-8, Chicago charter schools are doing about as well as the city's traditional public schools in raising student achievement as measured by test score.” In the small handful of charter high schools that also include middle or elementary grades, Rand found the average ACT score is about half-a-point higher than in traditional CPS high schools, and that students may have a better chance of graduating and going on to college. This could easily be explained not by a better academic program but by the fact that many charter and other Renaissance 2010 schools place a great emphasis on getting their students into college. This is a come-on selling point for parents, and not hard to accomplish if you have a small student body, adequate school counseling services, and businesses willing to put up scholarship money. Of course, that’s not a bad thing, but that alone doesn’t justify the chaos CPS has been creating in the family and community life of Chicago just to provide facilities for these not-so-great schools.

But the dismal facts didn’t stop the smug, rich people who reap wealth and self-satisfaction atop the broken lives of poor children from getting together for a huge group hug this week at the Renaissance Fund Symposium in such panel discussions as “The Role of the Private Sector in the New Market of Education.”

There’s that mental image again. The smug, rich folks are stuffing poor children into their eco-friendly market bags and loading them into their hybrid cars along with the rest of the white man’s burden. It must feel so good to feel so good.

"Charters enroll half the number of special education students and half the number of limited English proficient students as CPS overall. This isn't creaming? Just a coincidence?

It's also interesting that the same types of folks (Arne Duncan, etc.) who are so quick to label regular neighborhood schools as failures (based on test scores) now say that there are 'other qualities' that should be taken into consideration when looking at charter schools... now that the data is in that their test scores aren't better."

Look here for the petition and the guidelines for collecting signatures.

"What's Wrong with Renaissance 2010?" covers such issues as

• Forced student transiency
• Community disruption and disenfranchisement
• Skimming students
• Two-tiered system; double standard for schools
• Disregarding education research and best practices

But we're not just critics - we are suggesters! We offer some alternative solutions in "What Should Happen Instead of Renaissance 2010?" including real, elected LSCs at every school; adequate, equitable state school funding; and proven models of school support and renewal. 

Bad enough for that attitude to be coming from a school but now it's the OFFICIAL district attitude. Arne Duncan has announced the end of the school year on the CPS home page. He begins his letter: "As we begin to wrap up another school year..."

CPS's $5 billion annual budget breaks down to about $27 million a day. The dollar value of the 30 school days left before school officially ends is about $800 million.

That's a whole lot of money to blow off.

And it's just one more thing we can thank standardized tests for, because, of course, the real official end of the school year is the last day of state testing.   

We could save that $800 million by just ending the school year the day after the ISATs. Or, maybe save something even more valuable by using all of that $800 million intentionally educating children. 

In case time has softened your memories of the former CEO, take this walk down memory lane. The author has the history right.  

Here's an excerpt:

"If Vallas is truly a good thing for public schools, then about three to five years of his autocratic style quickly becomes too much of a good thing. Chicago and Philadelphia ultimately booted out Vallas, with both educators and the local governments who had originally hired him equally fed up with a lack of progress following his amazing initial inroads. All too much like NCLB, Vallas became obsessed with improving a single metric, usually IOWA test scores, to the exclusion of all other concerns.

His performance in Philadelphia was particular haphazard. Despite his supposed support for centralized authority over independent local control, Vallas presided over the nation's largest experiment in privatized management of schools, with the management of over forty schools turned over to outside for-profits, nonprofits, and universities. By the time he left Philadelphia, a majority of students were not meeting proficiency levels in reading and math, students were failing or dropping out in alarming numbers, there was a rise in teacher assaults, an ambitious capital building program was in deficit, and the private companies brought in to run schools were considered disasters but had become entrenched within the system."

But it will be a problem for some alums. 

From today‘s Chicago Sun-Times story:

“‘This interactive nature allows it to be a kind of living community,’ said Cynthia Greenleaf, director of partnerships for the district. Seeking to improve alumni outreach, Greenleaf and her colleagues realized that alumni loyalty is to the school they attended instead of the system as a whole.” (emphasis added)

Those loyal to schools like Riis, Terrell, Munoz-Marin, Donoghue, Colman, Flower High School, Byrd, Doolittle West, Douglas, Jefferson, Raymond, Spalding Elementary, Spalding High School, Suder, Truth, Wright, Howland, Bunche, Grant, Arai, Carver HS, DuSable, Farren, Frazier, Lindblom, and Morse may be disappointed to see this note on their school’s page: Status: Closed or often Status: Renamed.

CPS needs to recognize that schools mean something very important to the community and should not be kicked to the curb as easily as CPS has been doing it. Perhaps some of the alumni of these “disappeared” schools will help them learn that lesson.  

In the past, students who earned a C or better and missed fewer than five days of class were allowed to skip the class final.

However, a revised district policy from 2006 states that they can only skip the final if they scored high enough on the PSAE as juniors.

Some are blaming the No Child Left Behind Act for forcing the policy change. While I’m no defender of NCLB, this is off-base. Nowhere does NCLB require graduation exams or the use of state standardized tests for high-stakes purposes.

Either the school district officials are misleading the public (what?? in Schaumburg, too???), they just don't understand the law, or they are deliberately attaching high-stakes to the PSAE in an effort to artificially boost scores.

There’s lots to hate about NCLB, but this one is all about district policy, not the federal law.

Chicago parents launch petition drive

Back in 1995, when Illinois government was under total control of a political party that now has little say in policy matters, Chicago Public Schools were "reformed" in ways that promised to remedy what former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett famously called the "worse district in the nation."

To gain a focus of accountability for school policy, the General Assembly gave Mayor Richard M. Daley the authority to appoint the school board, rather than having citizens elect their board as do all other school districts in Illinois. And to spur involvement on the part of parents and other "stakeholders" in school matters, they created Local School Councils, with significant powers, to serve for each school in the same way that elected school board members do in the rest of the state.

Partial 'democracy' has its limits

The "LSC" arrangement was a compromise. Some legislators - such as ex-Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R-Naperville) - favored simply breaking Chicago's school system into perhaps 50 smaller districts, with a locally elected board for each of them. That would have resulted in costly duplication of services, however, so the idea was shelved.

The story making the rounds at the time was that the legislative leaders, both Republicans, wanted to advance policy that could work, but privately they believed the CPS was simply unmanageable and, if so, they wanted blame for continued failure to be put on the mayor, a prominent Democrat. To make sure they could not be found culpable for continued district dysfunction, the legislators even permitted the appointment of a non-educator to the position of "CEO" for this large urban school district.

The trap was set, but Paul Vallas, the first CPS CEO, confounded GOP expectations. Vallas was a workaholic, an excellent (if somewhat top-down) administrator. He was energetic and persuasive and had the connections at the Capitol to get about anything he wanted in Springfield. In his years on the job, the perception of improvement was so strong that, if he had the humility, Bennett would have had to eat his words.

But the decentralization of decision-making did not square with the role of the LSCs as the instrument of democracy at the local school level. The structure began fraying at the start, as Vallas worked to reduce LSC influence and, over time, the Chicago Reform Board began to ignore the LSCs whenever it could. Litigation and agitation were inevitable.

Currently, advocates for increased local control of Chicago schools have mounted a petition drive to do what no one thought they would - to return to the system of citywide elections of the members of the Chicago School Board. By city ordinance, they have until August 18 to gather 40,356 signatures to put their - advisory - question on the ballot.

'PURE' arguments for local control

The petition drive is organized by "Parents United for Responsible Education" (PURE), which has been a major advocate for local input on education policy in Chicago for twenty years. It has bumped heads with the centralized CPS administration repeatedly.

The most recent flap concerns the CPS decision to close 18 schools, and its intention to replace them with facilities without Local School Councils for the CPS Board to have to deal with. PURE and its allies have had mixed results with litigation on that issue.

Casting votes for board members in a large district like CPS would have uncertain results. It would be a lot like having all the voters outside of Chicago elect the members of the ISBE, and letting that agency make all the important decisions for the nearly 900 school districts and thousands of schools statewide. (Yes, some think ISBE already makes the decisions, and without the accountability of an elected Board, but let's just leave that discussion for another day.)

If PURE and its allies get the 40,000 signatures, that would get the attention of legislators who currently seem satisfied with the status quo in Chicago. The CPS is currently the mayor's problem, as they prefer, but a strong vote for change - and if citizens focus on those who can enact a remedy, the General Assembly -  will send the spat to Springfield.

In one way, the legislators might not mind that. It might demonstrate that turmoil can inflict a unit of governmental other than theirs.

Apparently, the answer is “no”. I pulled off the shelf my SIGNED copy of “The Chicago Schools - a social and political history,” (1971) by Mary J. Herrick, who taught in Chicago from 1916 until 1961, including 25 years at DuSable.

Ms. Herrick relates that the Chicago school board originated in 1837 when a new city charter established the elected position of mayor and a city council made up of 6 elected aldermen, one for each ward. The existing County Commissioner of School Lands, or School Agent, would be required to report to the city council every six months on school property and finances. Seven unsalaried school inspectors were appointed by the council to visit all the schools, examine teacher applicants, and select books.

Sounds charmingly harmless, doesn’t it?

Well, not for long. By the 1880s, “public discussion grew over the kind of people who were being appointed to the Board of Education, and sharp talk about the mayor’s paying off his political debts by appointing people to whom he was obligated and who would be sure to award contracts to the ‘right people.’” (p. 57)

Wow. Maybe it really is time to try something different.

A school we work with called the office Monday to say that, "since it's the end of the year" they had decided to postpone the rest of our parent workshops until next fall.

The last day of school is June 12. That's seven weeks away, nearly one-fifth of the school year.

Maybe it was just the spring fever talking?

A new old resource

Thanks to Designs for Change, the original history of the Chicago School Reform movement is now available after having been out of print for years. PURE has been hoarding a couple of yellowed copies but you can get it now on the DFC website:

"School Reform Chicago Style" a Classic Study of the Drafting and Passage of Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 Now Available Online.

"School Reform Chicago Style, written by Mary O'Connell and originally published by Center for Neighborhood Technology, is a readable in-depth analysis of how the state law that created Local School Councils was drafted and passed in the State Legislature by an impressive citizens' movement."

In case you missed it

Several internet sources posted this great video taken from the February 27th Board meeting where hundreds protested the massive CPS school closings plan. We got this link from Teachers for Social Justice: 

"Forwarded by Labor Beat:

It's A Done Deal - CPS vs Community

Despite broad protests from affected communities throughout the city, the Chicago School Board closes 18 schools in early March, 2008."

The video was produced by Labor Beat, a CAN TV Community Partner affiliated with IBEW 1220.  

And, along with our top LSC hero, Rev. Charlie Walker, Steve spoke out for LSCs on Catalyst’s monthly radio show, City Voices, which aired just before the LSC election.

You’ll be hearing more from Steve as we begin some new PURE initiatives. You can contact him at president@pureparents.org.

To get you ready to take office between July 1 and 14th, PURE is offering several opportunities to take LSC basic Lessons 1 and 2 which cover LSC Roles and Responsibilities (1) and Meeting Basics (2) with an emphasis on what to do at the LSC Organizational Meeting and the duties of LSC officers.   

Here are two ways to get PURE training. 

1. We come to you: You may call our office at 312-491-9101 or e-mail us at pure@pureparents.org if you have a group of LSC members who would like to be trained together in your community. We will work with you to find a time and date that works for everyone.

OR

2. You come to us: Come to our “in-house” training at the PURE office. We’re centrally-located in the West Loop, and have convenient free parking. Here are the dates, times, and lessons we’ll be offering.

Download our training flyer for details.  

We heard from several schools (especially on the second day in the elementary schools) that NO judges showed up. Principals were directed to open up the polls and even count votes, which is a conflict of interest as well as a complete violation of election rules.

Incorrect boundaries were cited, which caused voters to be improperly barred from voting. Candidates were told they could not be their own poll watchers.

All in all, it seemed like a disaster, and the response from the School and Community Relations department was often rude and generally unhelpful. 

Furthermore, voters and candidates are not given any direct information about challenging elections. This information does not appear anywhere in the LSC web page. You cannot download the challenge form from the CPS web site. PURE has posted the challenge forms and rules (see below) but otherwise challengers have to go to an area office or the CPS Central Office to find them.   

Challenges must be filed by 5 pm on April 28th in person or by fax to the CPS Law Department, 773-553-1769 or 1702. Keep a printed receipt of the fax.

Download the challenge form here.  

For important details download these rules and challenge hearing details.  

One of the many offensive statements Chicago Board of Education President Rufus Williams made at the April 7th City Council Education Committee meeting was that people really don't support LSCs, and that low candidate and voter numbers prove that people don't care. 

As an APPOINTED board member, Williams is clearly out of touch with the reality of most school board elections, which, as we have detailed, suffer from low activity nation wide, not just for LSCs.

Mayor Daley was elected in a so-called "landslide" with only 15% of the eligible vote.

Williams is also out of touch with the value real Chicagoans place on LSCs, as evidenced by a set of letters in this week's Hyde Park Herald. Writing in to promote their candidacies and to urge people to vote and support LSCs are the president of a local seminary, a former CPS Chief Purchasing Officer, and an enthusiastic parent who asks the community to vote for a group of candidates she organized: "Collectively, we are entrepreneurs and leaders committed to working with parents, teachers, school administration, the LSC and the community" to make their school the best it can be.

Why the mainstream media is deaf to this amazing, positive movement is simply incomprehensible.

CPS keeps thinking that LSCs will give up this power if the central office says so. 

Today an LSC member reported that his principal left him a voice message stating that if the LSC does not approve the SIPAAA and budget by the Friday April 18th deadline, the Area Officer will take over the budget and SIPAAA. 

They have tried to do this so many times before. In fact, we have a tip sheet from at least ten years ago on how to specify revisions if the LSC does not agree with everything in the SIPAAA and budget the principal presents.

The tip sheet includes a form to fill out with your specific changes. The form can be attached to the minutes from your meeting. Having LSC-approved changes on record makes your position much stronger if you find out that the budget is not set up the way the LSC voted. 

The ENTIRE school budget: Apparently, CPS is also encouraging principals to provide  budget information only for the SGSA and NCLB funds. This is not what the law requires. The LSC is required to approve the ENTIRE school budget. Make sure you have the full budget in front of you before you vote.      

Here's a tip sheet with the basics for passing this petition - there are specific RULES that we have to follow in order to make sure our signatures count!

We'll need over 40,000 signatures by August 18.  

Let's get started! 

Hosting the event was Kenwood Oakland Community Conference. Teachers for Social Justice provided recorders, so we hope to have a transcript to share soon.

We didn’t really hear anything surprising, which, after 18 years of working with LSCs is also not surprising. There was a strong feeling in the room that it’s time for an elected school board.

There were many more people who wanted to speak than time for speakers. We will be working on additional hearings in other parts of the city to make sure everyone has an opportunity to give their input. We also expect to begin working on actual new legislation as a member of the HJR0071 Task Force. Finally, we hope to have an advisory referendum petition on an elected school board approved very soon. We’ll need to get 40,000 signatures before the end of the summer if we are to get this question on the November 2008 ballot.        

1. VOTE AT EACH SCHOOL WHERE YOU ARE ELIGIBLE.

▸  You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to vote.

▸  Schools which are not accessible must provide curb-side voting for persons with disabilities.

▸  If you are over age 18 you may vote at all schools in whose election boundaries you live. This usually includes at least one elementary school and a high school. You may also live in the area of a middle school or a multi-area school. Call the LSC Election Hotline at 773/553-1400 to find out where you can vote.

▸  Parents may vote at all schools where they have a child enrolled.

▸  You need 2 forms of ID including one from the following list which includes your address:   

• Driver's License
• Employer ID
• State of Illinois ID
• Current lease
• Court document
• Library card
• Social Security card
• Current utility bill
• Student ID
• IDPA Card
• Credit Card
• Voter Reg. Card
• Other gov't ID
• Student birth certificate
• MediPlan/Medicaid card

2. VOTE IN PERSON BY SECRET BALLOT

▸  Schools will provide voting booths and ballots.

▸  No proxy or absentee votes are allowed                                                                    (you may not vote on behalf of a spouse, parent, etc.)            

3. VOTE FOR UP TO 5 CANDIDATES

▸  You may vote for any combination of parent and community candidates.

▸  You may not vote more than once for any one candidate.

▸  Do not vote for more than five candidates: if you do, your ballot will be discarded.

Polls will be open from 6 am- 7 pm April 16 at high schools and April 17 at elementary. (Special dates at year-round schools - call your school office)

More questions about the LSC election? Download PURE’s detailed Guide to the 2008 LSC Election in English or en Español.