Friday Morning News
Mother Says 11-Year-Old Daughter Assaulted In School Stairwell WMAQ
School officials said Thursday there was an investigation into allegations that a sixth grade girl was sexually attacked in a South Side charter school.
New Elgin schools chief plans to draw on CPS experience Chicago Tribune
Torres, now an area administrator with the Chicago Public Schools, is the U-46 School Board's top choice to lead a district that is striving to improve ...
Chicago parents may soon see their kids' grades online Medill Reports
by Joshua Pollock Chicago Public Schools are set to launch a new Web-based grade book next school year. The system will enable parents to view their child's ...
Teachers describe crumbling schools Chi-Town Daily News
Three Duprey teachers yesterday pushed Chicago Public Schools to make improvements to Humboldt before the new school year begins. Their comments came at the ...
Better schools = better pay for teachers? The Jackson Citizen Patriot
Chicago Public Schools is among the schools currently testing a program called TAP, or Teacher Advancement Program. Basically, there are lead teachers (who ...
Looking for friends of Irving `Pro' Boim Change of Subject - Chicago Tribune Blog
He started as a substitute in the Chicago Public Schools, moved to a staff job at the old St. Mary School in Evanston and ended up in my hometown of Ann ...
Paralympics gets a boost in Chicago school's gym
Chicago Tribune, United States -
(Tribune photo by Milbert O. Brown / May 8, 2008) By Carlos Sadovi | Tribune reporter Steering and pumping her wheelchair forward with one hand while ...
Digg
Del.icio.us
Fri May 9, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Friday Morning News
Stewart got IFT deal as soon as her re-election was announced
By John Kugler
Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart was signed to a part-time job paying more than $100,000 per year as secretary treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) as soon as the Chicago Teachers Union announced her re-election to a second term as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
On May 19, 2007, officials of the IFT signed an agreement with Stewart that ex-tends through December 31, 2010. Stewart's contract pays her a salary of $89,000 per year for 2007. In addition to her salary, Stewart will be paid 25 percent of the salary as a "pension contribution." The contract states that Stewart's work is "part time."
"The salary and benefits stated in this agreement are based on Stewart acting as a part-time employee of the Illinois Federation of Teachers working on the affairs of the Illinois Federation of Teachers," the contract states. "This contract, and the salary and benefits stated in this agreement shall remain in effect until Stewart is no longer Secretary-Treasurer, or this work year provision is modified to more than part-time work, or December 31, 2010, whichever comes first."
The next election in the Chicago Teachers Union takes place in May 2010. The contract means that Stewart will retain employment with the state teachers' union whether or not she wins another term as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Some of Stewart's pay and benefits are pegged to the staff contracts of the staff of the IFT.
The following are the salary figures for Stewart's contract for each year of the contract:
January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. $91,670
January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. $94,420
January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. $97,253
The amount of money to be paid into the "pension" will range from $20,000 to nearly $25,000 per year. Although the Illinois Federation of Teachers has to date failed to answer questions about the contract, or the reason for its extension beyond the term Stewart has as President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
http://www.substancenews.net/
By John Kugler
Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart was signed to a part-time job paying more than $100,000 per year as secretary treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) as soon as the Chicago Teachers Union announced her re-election to a second term as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
On May 19, 2007, officials of the IFT signed an agreement with Stewart that ex-tends through December 31, 2010. Stewart's contract pays her a salary of $89,000 per year for 2007. In addition to her salary, Stewart will be paid 25 percent of the salary as a "pension contribution." The contract states that Stewart's work is "part time."
"The salary and benefits stated in this agreement are based on Stewart acting as a part-time employee of the Illinois Federation of Teachers working on the affairs of the Illinois Federation of Teachers," the contract states. "This contract, and the salary and benefits stated in this agreement shall remain in effect until Stewart is no longer Secretary-Treasurer, or this work year provision is modified to more than part-time work, or December 31, 2010, whichever comes first."
The next election in the Chicago Teachers Union takes place in May 2010. The contract means that Stewart will retain employment with the state teachers' union whether or not she wins another term as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Some of Stewart's pay and benefits are pegged to the staff contracts of the staff of the IFT.
The following are the salary figures for Stewart's contract for each year of the contract:
January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. $91,670
January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. $94,420
January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. $97,253
The amount of money to be paid into the "pension" will range from $20,000 to nearly $25,000 per year. Although the Illinois Federation of Teachers has to date failed to answer questions about the contract, or the reason for its extension beyond the term Stewart has as President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
http://www.substancenews.net/
Fri May 9, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Friday Morning News
How many students are being relocated into the Von Humboldt facility? Will the building be overcrowded once the two schools share a building?
Duprey had a lease, correct? How much was paid yearly for rent? CPS should take the money saved on paying rent to make necessary improvements prior to moving children to Von Humboldt.
When the decision was made to house two schools in one building were community members, parents, administrators, and teachers involved in the decision making? Is CPS facilitating the involvement of everyone as the plan moves foward?
The questions about the facility are one issue. Questions about safety and security of all the children and adults in the combined school also need to be addressed!
Do children currently attending Duprey live in the area? Will Duprey and Von Humboldt occupy the same building and operate as two small schools?
Please post if you can answer any of these inquiries.
Duprey had a lease, correct? How much was paid yearly for rent? CPS should take the money saved on paying rent to make necessary improvements prior to moving children to Von Humboldt.
When the decision was made to house two schools in one building were community members, parents, administrators, and teachers involved in the decision making? Is CPS facilitating the involvement of everyone as the plan moves foward?
The questions about the facility are one issue. Questions about safety and security of all the children and adults in the combined school also need to be addressed!
Do children currently attending Duprey live in the area? Will Duprey and Von Humboldt occupy the same building and operate as two small schools?
Please post if you can answer any of these inquiries.
Sat May 10, 2008 at 2:36 AM
Friday Morning News
There are lies.
Damned lies.
And Renaissance 2010 lies, the biggest of all.
At the hearing on Duprey February 9 (scheduled for Duprey; actually held at Von Humboldt), these points were made.
CPS representatives (David Pickens; the hearing officer) basically told both principals that the repairs to Von Humboldt would be completed before Duprey moves into the Von Humboldt building (as a completely separate entity, with its own section of the building and other stuff).
Those promises were, as most people who followed the facts know, as good as Arne Duncan's word about anything else -- in other words, meaningless.
For the past six years, Arne has been looking people in the eye and promising something, only to stab the same people in the back, sometimes before they are completely out of the room! The cost of keeping Duprey in Duprey would have certainly been less than the costs of moving it (factoring in for certain the disruption caused by the moves -- which involve moving lots of stuff inside Von Humboldt, as well as moving Duprey in).
Duncan's "underutilization" scam of the past six months is just one of many currently in play (the other two big ones are "underperformance" and "underserved").
Right now, each of the schools Duncan lied to and is now closing (Carver Middle; Midway; De La Cruz; Gladstone; Edison; Irving Park Middle; Andersen) is in the middle of some very sad and traumatic times. Duprey is just the one that got a little ink last week.
And notice that this narrative doesn't include Copernicus, Fulton, Howe and Morton elementary schools, or Harper High and Orr High.
Those six schools aren't being "closed" because the kids are staying. The teachers, principals and other staffs are being fired. That's not closing. Legally (as the Board Reports show) it's another round of "reconstitution" (which is the thingy they can do under Illinois law). In the Orwellian world of Arnethink and CPSspeak, this round of reconstitutions (remember: the first round, which failed, was in 1997 -- 11 years ago!) is called "Turnaround" but it's fundamentally the same old merde, right down to the lies about the importance of the "hearings" and the lies at the Board meetings and in the Board reports. (Yes. I did cover the 1997 Reconstitutions; same stuff; different year and different packaging).
Damned lies.
And Renaissance 2010 lies, the biggest of all.
At the hearing on Duprey February 9 (scheduled for Duprey; actually held at Von Humboldt), these points were made.
CPS representatives (David Pickens; the hearing officer) basically told both principals that the repairs to Von Humboldt would be completed before Duprey moves into the Von Humboldt building (as a completely separate entity, with its own section of the building and other stuff).
Those promises were, as most people who followed the facts know, as good as Arne Duncan's word about anything else -- in other words, meaningless.
For the past six years, Arne has been looking people in the eye and promising something, only to stab the same people in the back, sometimes before they are completely out of the room! The cost of keeping Duprey in Duprey would have certainly been less than the costs of moving it (factoring in for certain the disruption caused by the moves -- which involve moving lots of stuff inside Von Humboldt, as well as moving Duprey in).
Duncan's "underutilization" scam of the past six months is just one of many currently in play (the other two big ones are "underperformance" and "underserved").
Right now, each of the schools Duncan lied to and is now closing (Carver Middle; Midway; De La Cruz; Gladstone; Edison; Irving Park Middle; Andersen) is in the middle of some very sad and traumatic times. Duprey is just the one that got a little ink last week.
And notice that this narrative doesn't include Copernicus, Fulton, Howe and Morton elementary schools, or Harper High and Orr High.
Those six schools aren't being "closed" because the kids are staying. The teachers, principals and other staffs are being fired. That's not closing. Legally (as the Board Reports show) it's another round of "reconstitution" (which is the thingy they can do under Illinois law). In the Orwellian world of Arnethink and CPSspeak, this round of reconstitutions (remember: the first round, which failed, was in 1997 -- 11 years ago!) is called "Turnaround" but it's fundamentally the same old merde, right down to the lies about the importance of the "hearings" and the lies at the Board meetings and in the Board reports. (Yes. I did cover the 1997 Reconstitutions; same stuff; different year and different packaging).
Sat May 10, 2008 at 6:27 AM
Friday Morning News
Is it true that somebody from Orr filed Unfair Labor Prctice lawsuit against Marilyn for her inaction?
Sat May 10, 2008 at 8:18 AM
Friday Morning News
The school where I work was closed two years ago with less than 24 hours notice to the community on the day of one of the worst snow storms of the season, and we were all shipped out to Farren School for a month while our roof was repaired. I've been complaining about the poor state of our public school buildings ever since. The board knew that our roof had structural problems but chose to postpone the repairs until it the possibility of a collapse under heavy snow forced the issue. Almost no one noticed our plight, which was nicely ignored by most of the press. Most of our athletic fields are in horrid shape as well. Anyone who has been to any of the high school fields at most schools can attest to this. How much longer will we put up with this before we stand up?!
Sat May 10, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Friday Morning News
"Is it true that somebody from Orr filed Unfair Labor Prctice lawsuit against Marilyn for her inaction?..." (Mary, this morning).
Yes. I was given a copy of it. As with every legal proceeding, it depends on (a) standing, (b) legal grounds, and (c) stamina.
Believe me. "C" can become the most important, since in all cases like this, the other side (CPS, CTU) is also spending your own money -- but against you. So your money is on both "sides" of the table, but the other side can deploy more of it, for more BS reasons, against you. Unless you have a "free" lawyer, it's difficult to sustain these things, even as they seem to be a good idea at the onset.
But it's one tactic that people can use.
One thing is certain. CPS does not want large numbers of people picketing their Board of Education meetings (next one: May 28) and CTU does not want pickets outside their House of Delegates meetings. But sustaining any protests (let alone lengthy litigations) is difficult.
I don't want to discourage anyone, just to put a realistic cloud over the "We'll sue the b-----!" stuff that goes around the lunch table.
Yes. I was given a copy of it. As with every legal proceeding, it depends on (a) standing, (b) legal grounds, and (c) stamina.
Believe me. "C" can become the most important, since in all cases like this, the other side (CPS, CTU) is also spending your own money -- but against you. So your money is on both "sides" of the table, but the other side can deploy more of it, for more BS reasons, against you. Unless you have a "free" lawyer, it's difficult to sustain these things, even as they seem to be a good idea at the onset.
But it's one tactic that people can use.
One thing is certain. CPS does not want large numbers of people picketing their Board of Education meetings (next one: May 28) and CTU does not want pickets outside their House of Delegates meetings. But sustaining any protests (let alone lengthy litigations) is difficult.
I don't want to discourage anyone, just to put a realistic cloud over the "We'll sue the b-----!" stuff that goes around the lunch table.
Sat May 10, 2008 at 11:35 PM
Friday Morning News
What I can't understand is why so many campuses of a school continue to be opened despite receiving lower composite scores on the ISAT year after year and has anyone looked at how the reading scores in most of the CICS schools get lower and lower every year. The CICS schools on the northside seem to be OK but what about the south side schools. Their ISAT scores, especially in reading ARE NOT better than my neighborhood scores and CICS is still allowed to open more and more campuses. Perhaps, with the rape of a student in the hallway CPS may start to reconsider CICS' charter!!
Sun May 11, 2008 at 2:58 AM
Friday Morning News
...What I can't understand is why so many campuses of a school continue to be opened despite receiving lower composite scores on the ISAT year after year and has anyone looked at how the reading scores in most of the CICS schools get lower and lower every year..." (CICS, late last night).
The answer in three words:
Archbishop.
Bill Gates.
If you've visited the CICS "campuses," you've no doubt noticed that all of them still feature that standard statue of the BVM and other Roman Catholic iconography outside, with more inside. It's even possible (it's certainly true up on this side of town, a mile from the "Irving Park Campus") that CICS is marketing itself precisely as a quasi-public (and equally non-union) really in its heart parochial school. Also, the subsidies to the Chicago archdiocese are significant. Do you think anyone would want to rent out all those derelict parochial school buildings -- from Good Counsel up north at Peterson and Pulaski all the way out to St. Francis on 115th and Prairie -- if CPS weren't providing the pop, as a king of inside job?
I had a little fun doing my tour of CICS "campuses" two years ago and the story is still on the Substance website.
After about seven or eight I was thinking about those statues of the BVM in my sleep, and finally asked an expert how many sizes they came in (from the supersized on outside CICS "Longwood" all the way to the sort of life sized one you'll find outside CICS "Irving Park" today). Turns out they came in at least four sizes in the concrete iteration and several others in plaster (for inside classrooms). The plaster ones, turns out, were fun targets for students when there was a substitute teacher who let the class get out of control. Unlike the concrete ones, they "kind of exploded" (one source; I never did field tests) if hit at the right angle with something hard.
Now to Gates.
Gates money has been pouring into Chicago for years to prove that any "choice" thingy is better than the public schools Bill Gates has been bashing since the Governors' conference four years ago (was it really that long?). Of course, like most racist projects, Bill Gates's teacher bashing and public school replacement plans don't include the kinds of suburbs where Bill and Melinda (and most of their workers and families) live and learn. These kinds of corporate "reforms" are reserved for places where Black People once ran the schools during times of austerity (like the reign of the Chicago School Finance Authority, 1980 - 1995). Once the Great White Hope (Paul Vallas and Richie Daley in Chicago; Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein in New York; Michaelle Rhee in D.C., etc.) is installed so that corporate America can rest easily at night, the attacks continue, but much more easily.
Now if you want to believe the fair tale versions of all this history, you can read Catalyst every month or pick up any of a large number of Gates-funded "studies" that prove how wonderful things get once outfits like CICS are proving "market choice" to replace the black teachers in the ghetto (or other urban areas).
My favorite among these was the Gates "study" (ghost written by WestEd to give it that scholarly pizazze) that reported, one year after Good Counsel had been flipped from Catholic to public, that "CICS Longwood" (what used to be Good Counsel) had become -- presto! -- a "model" for urban American public high school "reform." I still treasure the pictures of Arne Duncan shilling for that Big Lie, and the usual answer he gave to me back then to my question ("How does this place provide a model for Englewood High School?" -- which Arne was teacher bashing and closing at that time).
Arne's usual answer is "I'll get back to you on that" when he's caught lying. I suspect that he really wants to say "____ You!" but so far I'm still waiting for some of those answers, and the questions go back as long as six years and as recently as my question about the "waiting lists" for Whitney Young, Payton and Northside which I asked him during the RFP Dog and Pony Show at Englewood last month.
The answer in three words:
Archbishop.
Bill Gates.
If you've visited the CICS "campuses," you've no doubt noticed that all of them still feature that standard statue of the BVM and other Roman Catholic iconography outside, with more inside. It's even possible (it's certainly true up on this side of town, a mile from the "Irving Park Campus") that CICS is marketing itself precisely as a quasi-public (and equally non-union) really in its heart parochial school. Also, the subsidies to the Chicago archdiocese are significant. Do you think anyone would want to rent out all those derelict parochial school buildings -- from Good Counsel up north at Peterson and Pulaski all the way out to St. Francis on 115th and Prairie -- if CPS weren't providing the pop, as a king of inside job?
I had a little fun doing my tour of CICS "campuses" two years ago and the story is still on the Substance website.
After about seven or eight I was thinking about those statues of the BVM in my sleep, and finally asked an expert how many sizes they came in (from the supersized on outside CICS "Longwood" all the way to the sort of life sized one you'll find outside CICS "Irving Park" today). Turns out they came in at least four sizes in the concrete iteration and several others in plaster (for inside classrooms). The plaster ones, turns out, were fun targets for students when there was a substitute teacher who let the class get out of control. Unlike the concrete ones, they "kind of exploded" (one source; I never did field tests) if hit at the right angle with something hard.
Now to Gates.
Gates money has been pouring into Chicago for years to prove that any "choice" thingy is better than the public schools Bill Gates has been bashing since the Governors' conference four years ago (was it really that long?). Of course, like most racist projects, Bill Gates's teacher bashing and public school replacement plans don't include the kinds of suburbs where Bill and Melinda (and most of their workers and families) live and learn. These kinds of corporate "reforms" are reserved for places where Black People once ran the schools during times of austerity (like the reign of the Chicago School Finance Authority, 1980 - 1995). Once the Great White Hope (Paul Vallas and Richie Daley in Chicago; Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein in New York; Michaelle Rhee in D.C., etc.) is installed so that corporate America can rest easily at night, the attacks continue, but much more easily.
Now if you want to believe the fair tale versions of all this history, you can read Catalyst every month or pick up any of a large number of Gates-funded "studies" that prove how wonderful things get once outfits like CICS are proving "market choice" to replace the black teachers in the ghetto (or other urban areas).
My favorite among these was the Gates "study" (ghost written by WestEd to give it that scholarly pizazze) that reported, one year after Good Counsel had been flipped from Catholic to public, that "CICS Longwood" (what used to be Good Counsel) had become -- presto! -- a "model" for urban American public high school "reform." I still treasure the pictures of Arne Duncan shilling for that Big Lie, and the usual answer he gave to me back then to my question ("How does this place provide a model for Englewood High School?" -- which Arne was teacher bashing and closing at that time).
Arne's usual answer is "I'll get back to you on that" when he's caught lying. I suspect that he really wants to say "____ You!" but so far I'm still waiting for some of those answers, and the questions go back as long as six years and as recently as my question about the "waiting lists" for Whitney Young, Payton and Northside which I asked him during the RFP Dog and Pony Show at Englewood last month.
Sun May 11, 2008 at 9:17 PM
Friday Morning News
one year after Good Counsel had been flipped from Catholic to public, that "CICS Longwood" (what used to be Good Counsel) had become -- presto! -- a "model" for urban American public high school "reform."
Oops, Good Counsel became CICS Northtown, not CICS Longwood
Oops, Good Counsel became CICS Northtown, not CICS Longwood
Sun May 11, 2008 at 10:03 PM
The online gradebook...
Speaking as a recent graduate of the Chicago Public Schools, I feel obligated to say the online grade book concept is a good idea. Assuming it is handled competently and responsibly by the Board (am I asking too much?) it should reduce the workload on teachers and also provide a big benefit to students.
One of the best things about high school was our Edline service, which allowed students to access course materials and grades online. In college, much of the work has been web-based thus far, and we rely on similar programs (for me it's Bspace) to gain access to documents, videos, etc. It is a very useful concept and will be employed more and more in the future, so why not get a head start now?
What do the teachers on this forum think about this?
One of the best things about high school was our Edline service, which allowed students to access course materials and grades online. In college, much of the work has been web-based thus far, and we rely on similar programs (for me it's Bspace) to gain access to documents, videos, etc. It is a very useful concept and will be employed more and more in the future, so why not get a head start now?
What do the teachers on this forum think about this?
