Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 6:26 AMBy: Concerned Free At Last. What school?

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 8:53 AMBy: Extremely concerned Free At Last. are you kidding me? I hope you were being sarcastic, Alexander.

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 11:59 AMBy: cermak_rd Free At Last. http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/files/2009_09_24%20Ruling%20Terminating%20Consent%20Decree.pdf

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 12:47 PMBy: Rod Estvan Free At Last. I do not want to sound sanctimonious, but using the heading of “Free At Last” by Alexander in reference to Judge Kocoras terminating and vacating the Second Amended Consent Decree in USA vs. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO (80 C 5124) desegregation case walked the line of being disrespectful of the heritage of the civil rights movement in Chicago. I suspect Alexander was being fatuous. I read the decision in its totality and was not surprised by anything in it.

If you read the book “Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education” (1996) you can read passages from numerous similar decisions made in cases involving Prince George and Montgomery counties outside Washington, DC, Charlotte, Kansas City, Norfolk, Austin, Detroit, and Little Rock. The results have been clear, minority students have experienced greater segregation, all be it legal, once the various desegregation cases were vacated by courts. The same I expect will happen here in Chicago regardless of CPS attempts to limit the impact of the ending of the case by using some form of social economic preference in the magnet and selective schools.

Given the economic arguments for ending the consent decree made by CPS and cited by Judge Kocoras in his decision it seems logical that CPS will move with dispatch to end busing entitlements to elementary magnet schools and additional resources provided to racially isolated schools. The former CPS Board President Williams discussed this in a TV interview over a year ago indicating he expected this form of busing to be phased out once the decree was lifted.

What we may see over time is an increase in the overall white student population in CPS, with numerous preferred elementary schools on the north and in the near Loop areas becoming 60 to 90 percent white and middle class over a number of years. Possibly as this reality unfolds the Hispanic and Black community will realize what is happening. However, the social economic divide within those communities themselves may prevent much mobilization against re-segregation, because political elites and the middle class within those communities will likely not face segregation. This is because the children of those elites and minority children from middle class college educated families will score well enough to be competitive without any racial set asides in place.

Given the fact that more wealthy families pay more in property taxes in Chicago than do poorer families any CPS scheme to contain access to the very best CPS schools will likely face litigation supported by conservative advocacy groups that outright oppose all forms of what they consider to be social engineering. Equal justice unfortunately for the poor applies to the more wealthy of Chicago too.

The most optimistic perspective I can have in relation to the vacating of the Second Amended Consent Decree is that over time the poor in the minority communities in Chicago will force their own political elites to be accountable to their electorate, which is overwhelmingly living on the economic margins in Chicago. Part of that accountability will require that Chicago have a democratically elected school board, whose agenda supports the interests of Chicago’s poor minority communities.


Rod Estvan

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 1:19 PMBy: CPS pov Free At Last. I think Alex's headline reflects the CPS admin point of view. They've wanted this. And fought for it.

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 1:40 PMBy: ASW Free At Last. Rod: I agree with you about the poor title of this post.

I would like to relate a recent experience I had in a class at a Chicago university. The class was a Middle School endorsment class made up of mostly CPS' High School and Elementary School teachers. Most of the teachers were young, black and hispanic educators. The subject of Brown came up and I was shocked at the level of indifference or hostility toward desegregation and Brown. The feeling expressed was that desegregation and magnet schools took resources from minority and nighborhood schools. It appears, from this class, that younger people don't feel the same reverence older people, like me, might have toward Brown.

That said, I am curious where you think these "white" (of course, hispanic may mean any race but I see you, like the court, make a distinction) kids will come from? What will change the demographic decline of "whites" in CPS from 18% in 1980 to 8% today? I think your wrong about this. In a short number of years, hispanics are likely to become the majority population in CPS, and the black-white issues of the past 50 years will likely have little meaning to them.

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 2:17 PMBy: Rod correction Free At Last. at preK 55.7%

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 5:09 PMBy: bob Free At Last. Free of what?



From 1970 until 1995 I never taught a white kid. Only saw one in all
those years. Not only that but we were housed in a toxic dump of a building
that several assigned teachers never even entered once it was so rabid.
Now I must ask myself if it all meant anything. We would have been proud to have
ANY White or Hispanic or Oriental kids in that rotten building, so would our
students. Now even the pretense of integration is a mute point.
I bet the law department of the board is happy. Since 1954 that lot has
been able to stop any real integration by the CPS. So I would like to know
who is free of what? Dr.King must be rolling over in his grave.

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 9:03 PMBy: you are a teacher? Free At Last. "oriental" is not culturally sensitive either.