Tales from the rehab front Dan Weissmann, Roe Williamson, Lisa Lewi Waiting for windows, welcoming parks, hoping for heat, getting the lead out
A holding pattern
Howland Elementary
Lawndale
Howland School for the Arts in Lawndale was in such bad shape and so underused that the Board of Education voted in June 1995 to close it.
Two months later, Howland, along with five other schools slated for closing, got a reprieve from the new School Reform Board of Trustees. But by then, more than a third of its faculty had taken jobs elsewhere, and Principal George Dalin had to hastily recruit 11 new teachers, most of them...
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Law exempts Chicago from safety survey Dan Weissmann Chicago is the only school district in Illinois that is not required to identify and systematically eliminate hazards to children's life, health and safety—things like peeling lead paint, rotting window frames that let in freezing winds, and decaying ceilings that threaten to cave in.
State law requires every other school district to make a comprehensive survey of such hazards and then to set priorities for eliminating them. That information is sent to the state for review. If state officials affirm that the district has life-safety problems and has set its priorities correctly, the...
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Public Building Commission not much better Dan Weissmann Before the School Reform Board took office in 1995, most school construction and rehabilitation was administered by the Public Building Commission.
It hasn't provided a public accounting of its work either.
Since 1989, the PBC has done about $650 million in work for the School Board, with about $407 million going into rehab and $250 million going into new buildings.
Asked for an account of what rehab work was done, when, and at what cost, PBC spokesperson Susan Ross replies: "We can account for it, but it isn't like I can give you right now a chart with every detail...
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Advocates for disabled win seat at the table Dan Weissmann There's one area of capital planning where school officials have drawn nothing but praise: making schools more accessible to people with disabilities. But it didn't start out that way.
Last year, the administration created the Accessibility Resources Group, an advisory committee that includes parent activists and advocates for people with disabilities The committee met almost every week in October and November.
"They really listened to us," says Darlene Pearlstein, a committee member who is active in the Chicago Association of Local School Councils, a frequent administration...
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Board behind on assessing needs, tracking spending Dan Weissmann The most ambitious school construction effort in decades has launched a flurry of overdue renovation, but officials are still unable to clearly state their spending priorities or offer details on where the money has gone.
Board's priority criteria are mystery
Hundreds of millions of an anticipated $3 billion in capital improvements have been targeted, school officials say, and their focus has been on getting projects underway. A full accounting, they assert, will be provided later.
But principals and watchdog groups warn that the lack of information breeds...
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Where we got our numbers Lisa Lewis, Sukhjit Purewal, Dan Weissma Catalyst's $354 million tally of capital spending encompasses, with two small exceptions, all the work for which the Reform Board has set aside money it has already raised.
In contrast, the Reform Board's tally on Phase 1 capital spending, $430 million, includes some projects for which it currently has no money.
The board's year-end financial statement from last year shows $364 million raised from bond sales and other sources. "We clearly didn't have $430 million," says Assistant Budget Director Karen Burke. "Your revenue is your outside constraint." The rest of the $...
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Contract doesn't guarantee raises Veronica Anderson Unbeknownst to the public and probably most teachers, the raises spelled out in the Chicago Teachers Union contract are not guaranteed, but the union isn't worried.
A little noticed clause gives the School Reform Board an easy out: "The ... provisions of this agreement are contingent upon a reasonable expectation by the Board of its ability to fund the agreement."
Previous contracts have given the board an escape hatch on salaries, but the board could use it only if revenues fell below an agreed-upon level. In contrast, the contingency clause in the 1995-1999 agreement is...
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State law, new management turn pipe dream into reality Veronica Anderson Two years ago, the notion that the School Board would be selling $850 million in bonds to rehab schools and relieve overcrowding would have been a pipe dream.
As the front-page headline in Catalyst's April 1995 issue warned: "No money in sight to relieve overcrowding."
But a month later, the state Legislature gave the board significant new powers that paved the way for its current building boom. And Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed a school leadership team that went on to win over a once skeptical financial community.
Buy bonds
The legislation, for...
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