More Students Get Obamafied The sophomores from Ralph Ellison CICS also went to Iowa and worked with the Obama campaign, and CICS put up this YouTube video to describe what happened:
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Fri Feb 29, 2008 at 12:42 PM
More Students Get Obamafied
Hopefully CICS in no way supported sending these students to Iowa to work on the Obama campaign. Since CICS is a not for profit that would be completely illegal. By the way I am not a Clinton supporter, nor a Republican.
Fri Feb 29, 2008 at 2:08 PM
More Students Get Obamafied
Actually thought the same exact thing when I first watched the video. I think its great that the students had the opportunity to be active in the political process, but its certainly a fine line when you're a public school and a non-profit organization.
Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 4:57 AM
More Students Get Obamafied
It's a very moving story, but since this is the time of DATA DRIVEN MANAGEMENT I have to ask some questions, provide some data, and point out the obvious.
This is the "marketing" season for Chicago charter schools, and one of the things they "market" through their "marketing departments" is how much safer and nicer things are at the charters than at the regular publics. Meanwhile, of course, Arne Duncan continues to sabotage the regular publics, so that does facilitate the contrasts, making the "marketing" claims easier to put in front of concerned families.
So, during these cold months, CICS is being given carte blanche to cherry pick students for next year's entering class -- and then bad mouth the regular public schools (usually, during those marketing sessions where they are talking to the families of the students they are cherry picking).
This little bit of You Tube narrative about the Obama campaign comes at a time when many many people in Chicago who support true public schools are in a very bad mood as a result of the continuing attacks on public schools by the Board of Education and the CEO of the city's public schools under the various rhetorics of "choice" and "efficiency" (all subsumed under market economic and a religion that was preached by nut cases like Ayn Rand).
EDITED TO MEET COMMENT LENGTH LIMITS
This is the "marketing" season for Chicago charter schools, and one of the things they "market" through their "marketing departments" is how much safer and nicer things are at the charters than at the regular publics. Meanwhile, of course, Arne Duncan continues to sabotage the regular publics, so that does facilitate the contrasts, making the "marketing" claims easier to put in front of concerned families.
So, during these cold months, CICS is being given carte blanche to cherry pick students for next year's entering class -- and then bad mouth the regular public schools (usually, during those marketing sessions where they are talking to the families of the students they are cherry picking).
This little bit of You Tube narrative about the Obama campaign comes at a time when many many people in Chicago who support true public schools are in a very bad mood as a result of the continuing attacks on public schools by the Board of Education and the CEO of the city's public schools under the various rhetorics of "choice" and "efficiency" (all subsumed under market economic and a religion that was preached by nut cases like Ayn Rand).
EDITED TO MEET COMMENT LENGTH LIMITS
Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 7:34 AM
Mikva trips different
Alexander, Mikva Challenge trips are different than this. We work with candidates on all sides (3rd Parties too when viable). In Iowa and New Hampshire, students worked on 10 different campaigns (5 GOP and 5 DEM), and picked the campaigns themselves without teacher input.
We really believe that this kind of hands-on experience in the democratic process is invaluable, but it must be done carefully and in a non-partisan manner.
We really believe that this kind of hands-on experience in the democratic process is invaluable, but it must be done carefully and in a non-partisan manner.
Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 11:30 AM
More Students Get Obamafied
I will cut and paste this and send this to the IRS. This non for profit stuff with politics must stop.
Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 11:31 AM
More Students Get Obamafied
the reason CICs has so many campuses. Many of their campuses saw drops on the ISAT. I know of one campus where the reading scores are in the toilet!!! Those students would be better off at there neighborhood schools who are now surpassing the campuses in reading and are tied in math.
Mon Mar 3, 2008 at 2:41 AM
More Students Get Obamafied
Hopefully, the data on all CICS "campuses" will be more and more disaggregated, but for now let's just go for the public data, as supplied to the world in the current (2008-2009) "High School Directory, Chicago Public Schools" (Chicago: Chicago Public Schools, 2007). Basically, CICS "Ellison" is a public high school on the South Side.
1. FINANCIAL DATA: Deregulation. Although CICS is a not-for-profit reality, charter schools in Chicago are massively de-regulated (they aren't even separated out in the budget, but lumped under "Contractual and other services" so financial transparency is difficult). For all we know, it's OK for a Chicago charter school to shut down and declare that all of its children can spend a week, a month, or more doing a field trip on behalf of Barack Obama. (Don't you think there would be more notice, say in the Sun-Times or by the Inspector General, if they launched out on behalf of John McCain or Mike Hucabee?...).
2. DATA ELLISON: Very small class size in the video. What is the actual pupil-teacher ratio?
3. DATA ELLISON: Ratio of female to male students about two or three to one. Is this one of those "All Girls" charter schools? (The original CICS "Northtown" had a couple of boys they kept moving around for the picture. Could be the same thing...). What is the actual ratio?
4. DATA ELLISON: Any serious special education students? CPS says it is "12.7 percent", which would mean that 20 or 21 of the children are special education. No English Language Learners.
5. DATA: CICS Ellison "is managed by Civitas schools, please visit our website at www.civitasschools.org..." No Website for a place called "CICS Ellison". How much is the management fee taken out by "Civitas schools" for "managing" CICS Ellison?
6. DATA ELLISON: According to the "Directory": 158 students. But this "school" was not "underutilized" according to CPS. Other schools on the South Side (Midway; Carver Middle) were "underutilized", but not "CICS Ellison."
7. DATA CPS AND ELLISON: The four nearest true (and transparent) general public high schools are Fenger, Harlan, Julian, and Morgan Park. (Calumet used to be on this list, but Arne Duncan privatized it for Perspectives Charter School).
8. DATA SPECIAL EDUCATION: Fenger High School, 11220 S. Wallace Ave. Total students: 1,119. Students with disabilities: 24.2 percent. That's 268 students with disabilities -- 100 more students with disabilities than "CICS Ellison" has students!
9. DATA SPECIAL EDUCATION Harlan High School, 9652 S. Michigan. Total students: 1,388. Students with disabilities: 20.5 percent. That's 277 students with disabilities -- 120 more students with disabilities than "CICS Ellison" has students!
[THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH]
1. FINANCIAL DATA: Deregulation. Although CICS is a not-for-profit reality, charter schools in Chicago are massively de-regulated (they aren't even separated out in the budget, but lumped under "Contractual and other services" so financial transparency is difficult). For all we know, it's OK for a Chicago charter school to shut down and declare that all of its children can spend a week, a month, or more doing a field trip on behalf of Barack Obama. (Don't you think there would be more notice, say in the Sun-Times or by the Inspector General, if they launched out on behalf of John McCain or Mike Hucabee?...).
2. DATA ELLISON: Very small class size in the video. What is the actual pupil-teacher ratio?
3. DATA ELLISON: Ratio of female to male students about two or three to one. Is this one of those "All Girls" charter schools? (The original CICS "Northtown" had a couple of boys they kept moving around for the picture. Could be the same thing...). What is the actual ratio?
4. DATA ELLISON: Any serious special education students? CPS says it is "12.7 percent", which would mean that 20 or 21 of the children are special education. No English Language Learners.
5. DATA: CICS Ellison "is managed by Civitas schools, please visit our website at www.civitasschools.org..." No Website for a place called "CICS Ellison". How much is the management fee taken out by "Civitas schools" for "managing" CICS Ellison?
6. DATA ELLISON: According to the "Directory": 158 students. But this "school" was not "underutilized" according to CPS. Other schools on the South Side (Midway; Carver Middle) were "underutilized", but not "CICS Ellison."
7. DATA CPS AND ELLISON: The four nearest true (and transparent) general public high schools are Fenger, Harlan, Julian, and Morgan Park. (Calumet used to be on this list, but Arne Duncan privatized it for Perspectives Charter School).
8. DATA SPECIAL EDUCATION: Fenger High School, 11220 S. Wallace Ave. Total students: 1,119. Students with disabilities: 24.2 percent. That's 268 students with disabilities -- 100 more students with disabilities than "CICS Ellison" has students!
9. DATA SPECIAL EDUCATION Harlan High School, 9652 S. Michigan. Total students: 1,388. Students with disabilities: 20.5 percent. That's 277 students with disabilities -- 120 more students with disabilities than "CICS Ellison" has students!
[THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH]
Mon Mar 3, 2008 at 8:41 AM
More Students Get Obamafied
Hi George,
Just wanted to point out a couple of inaccurate and/or misleading statements in your last post.
George said:
"For all we know, it's OK for a Chicago charter school to shut down and declare that all of its children can spend a week, a month, or more doing a field trip on behalf of Barack Obama."
George is a smart guy and knows that virtually all charter schools are also 501(c)(3) non-profit entities and he also probably knows that to keep this non-profit status you cannot participate in partisan politics. And that one requirement for many grants, the kinds that CICS gets many of, is also that you're not affiliated with any partisan political activities.
George said:
"CICS Ellison "is managed by Civitas schools, please visit our website at www.civitasschools.org..." No Website for a place called "CICS Ellison"."
And yet when I did a google search for CICS Ellison, this was the first web site that popped up: http://www.cicsellison.org/home/ . So, either George isn't using those fancy investigative journalism skills he seems so often to pride himself of, or he's just twisting the facts to give himself a reason to send you to the Civitas page.
George said:
"How much is the management fee taken out by "Civitas schools" for "managing" CICS Ellison? "
How much of a management fee is taken out by 125 S. Clark to manage every neighborhood school in the city?
George said:
"According to the "Directory": 158 students. But this "school" was not "underutilized" according to CPS. Other schools on the South Side (Midway; Carver Middle) were "underutilized", but not "CICS Ellison.""
The directory number is from 2006, the year CICS Ellison first opened. As most charter schools do, they opened with only one grade, 9th and a plan to have around 150 students. Each year they are adding one new class of students with 150 more kids. Presumably, they currently have around 300 kids in 9th and 10th grade. At full enrollment in 2009, they should have probably a bit under 600 kids in grades 9-12.
George said:
"DATA CPS AND ELLISON: The four nearest true (and transparent) general public high schools are Fenger, Harlan, Julian, and Morgan Park. (Calumet used to be on this list, but Arne Duncan privatized it for Perspectives Charter School)."
First of all, this one has nothing to do with CICS Ellison, but why not create an opportunity to take a swipe at another charter school in this post. Secondly, Perspectives Charter Schools is a public non-profit with a 501(c)(3) created 11 years ago by two CPS teachers who wanted to run their own school. George and a lot of others want to make charter schools sound like Halliburton. But when it comes down to it the vast majority of charter schools are non-profit organizations. Many of those were started by educators. And anyone who thinks that running a charter school is some immensely profitable industry obviously has never tried to do it.
Lastly, while CPS might not be doing their job in accurately accounting the finances of charter schools, every charter school (as a non-profit organization) has to go through a fairly rigorous auditing process, as summary of which should appear in their annual report every year and a full version of which you do have the right to request if its not already available through someplace like guidestar.org.
Just wanted to point out a couple of inaccurate and/or misleading statements in your last post.
George said:
"For all we know, it's OK for a Chicago charter school to shut down and declare that all of its children can spend a week, a month, or more doing a field trip on behalf of Barack Obama."
George is a smart guy and knows that virtually all charter schools are also 501(c)(3) non-profit entities and he also probably knows that to keep this non-profit status you cannot participate in partisan politics. And that one requirement for many grants, the kinds that CICS gets many of, is also that you're not affiliated with any partisan political activities.
George said:
"CICS Ellison "is managed by Civitas schools, please visit our website at www.civitasschools.org..." No Website for a place called "CICS Ellison"."
And yet when I did a google search for CICS Ellison, this was the first web site that popped up: http://www.cicsellison.org/home/ . So, either George isn't using those fancy investigative journalism skills he seems so often to pride himself of, or he's just twisting the facts to give himself a reason to send you to the Civitas page.
George said:
"How much is the management fee taken out by "Civitas schools" for "managing" CICS Ellison? "
How much of a management fee is taken out by 125 S. Clark to manage every neighborhood school in the city?
George said:
"According to the "Directory": 158 students. But this "school" was not "underutilized" according to CPS. Other schools on the South Side (Midway; Carver Middle) were "underutilized", but not "CICS Ellison.""
The directory number is from 2006, the year CICS Ellison first opened. As most charter schools do, they opened with only one grade, 9th and a plan to have around 150 students. Each year they are adding one new class of students with 150 more kids. Presumably, they currently have around 300 kids in 9th and 10th grade. At full enrollment in 2009, they should have probably a bit under 600 kids in grades 9-12.
George said:
"DATA CPS AND ELLISON: The four nearest true (and transparent) general public high schools are Fenger, Harlan, Julian, and Morgan Park. (Calumet used to be on this list, but Arne Duncan privatized it for Perspectives Charter School)."
First of all, this one has nothing to do with CICS Ellison, but why not create an opportunity to take a swipe at another charter school in this post. Secondly, Perspectives Charter Schools is a public non-profit with a 501(c)(3) created 11 years ago by two CPS teachers who wanted to run their own school. George and a lot of others want to make charter schools sound like Halliburton. But when it comes down to it the vast majority of charter schools are non-profit organizations. Many of those were started by educators. And anyone who thinks that running a charter school is some immensely profitable industry obviously has never tried to do it.
Lastly, while CPS might not be doing their job in accurately accounting the finances of charter schools, every charter school (as a non-profit organization) has to go through a fairly rigorous auditing process, as summary of which should appear in their annual report every year and a full version of which you do have the right to request if its not already available through someplace like guidestar.org.
Tue Mar 4, 2008 at 9:39 PM
More Students Get Obamafied
"Hi George,
Just wanted to point out a couple of inaccurate and/or misleading statements in your last post..."
Hi, Charlie.
And just what was inaccurate in what I posted?
Perspective Calumet's a modestly growing mess, as you may have heard -- even with a modest component of students and a $10 million face lift.
And the other high school that was screwed beginning in 2004 -- Austin -- is an even bigger mess already, thanks to American Quality Schools and its inability to control the halls of the famous "Entreprenuership Academy."
But my comparisons with CICS Ellison were real schools. Ellison at the time the most recent data were reported (those I cited are from the "High School" handbook everyone had before December, as you know) was tiny. As I said, Ellison had fewer students in its "school" than the average Morgan Park gym teacher has in her total student load (classes plus division).
Please don't mislead people here about those "audits." If they were more than a joke, Aspira would have been out of business within a few months after the first rat ran across the Mirta Ramirez floors four years ago. Instead, all of it was covered up, to this day, and Aspira was given half of Moos last summer instead of facing sanctions for letting 2435 N. Western descend into squalor. And that's not even mentioning all those over paid executives who view their staffs as "eye candy" (and much much more)...
Show me the audits, rather than just prattling. Next thing you know, you're going to tell me the Inspector General of CPS is someone we should all trust.
Just wanted to point out a couple of inaccurate and/or misleading statements in your last post..."
Hi, Charlie.
And just what was inaccurate in what I posted?
Perspective Calumet's a modestly growing mess, as you may have heard -- even with a modest component of students and a $10 million face lift.
And the other high school that was screwed beginning in 2004 -- Austin -- is an even bigger mess already, thanks to American Quality Schools and its inability to control the halls of the famous "Entreprenuership Academy."
But my comparisons with CICS Ellison were real schools. Ellison at the time the most recent data were reported (those I cited are from the "High School" handbook everyone had before December, as you know) was tiny. As I said, Ellison had fewer students in its "school" than the average Morgan Park gym teacher has in her total student load (classes plus division).
Please don't mislead people here about those "audits." If they were more than a joke, Aspira would have been out of business within a few months after the first rat ran across the Mirta Ramirez floors four years ago. Instead, all of it was covered up, to this day, and Aspira was given half of Moos last summer instead of facing sanctions for letting 2435 N. Western descend into squalor. And that's not even mentioning all those over paid executives who view their staffs as "eye candy" (and much much more)...
Show me the audits, rather than just prattling. Next thing you know, you're going to tell me the Inspector General of CPS is someone we should all trust.
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