Gale mess becomes a cause célèbreDan WeissmannAs Catalyst goes to press, a showdown is imminent at Gale Community Academy, where controversy has racked the local school council for more than a year. Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas has announced his intention to have the school declared in "educational crisis" so he can clean house. Backed by school reform groups and the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a majority of Gale's LSC members are preparing to file a lawsuit against the board, charging that Vallas is usurping the LSC's power to name a principal. Here's the background.
THE PROCESS... > Read More |
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Law, policy changes dilute LSC powerLisa LewisThe Chicago School Reform Act, passed in 1988, created local school councils and gave them significant powers, including choosing principals and approving school improvement plans and budgets. In the last two years, new laws and policies have restricted the major powers and expanded some of the lesser ones. Here's a rundown.
PRINCIPAL SELECTION The Reform Act gave LSCs unfettered power to select principals and prohibited the Board of Education from imposing candidate requirements beyond a state principal certificate.
In 1996, the Legislature quietly removed the... > Read More |
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Vallas team a winner in SpringfieldDan WeissmannThe School Reform Board has two lobbyists on staff and contracts with several free-lancers to get its message across to legislators in Springfield and Washington. But the board's clean-up hitter has been Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas.
"This year in particular, you had Vallas down [in Springfield] at least once a week," says David Peterson, the staff lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union. "There were some weeks he'd spend a few days; toward the end, he was there pretty much every day they were in session."
And every night. Some Springfield veterans recall watching... > Read More |
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Study gives positive ratings to LSCsVeronica AndersonChicago's local school councils generally have enough education, training and experience to govern their schools.
These findings are a preview of a new study of LSCs to be released next month by the Consortium on Chicago School Research. In the final report, the Consortium will address whether LSCs are using their skills and experience effectively.
The study is expected to counter widely held beliefs that councils are not fit to govern and that elected members do not have the skills to make important decisions about schools. The study is based on surveys of 1,900 council... > Read More |
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Councils gearing up for SpringfieldVeronica AndersonIt's a Saturday morning in August, and about a dozen members of various local school councils are convened at a downtown office building for a five-hour workshop. Each participant has a gray folder assembled especially for the session.
Stuffed with papers, the folder constitutes a primer for the budding lobbyist. It includes a telephone directory of state senators and representatives, a seating chart for both houses of the General Assembly, sample bills, tips for mounting letter-writing campaigns and exercising influence, and a flow chart on how a bill becomes law in Illinois. ...> Read More |
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