As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.
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In the News: CPS to sync its bell system
By: Cassandra West / April 30, 2012
CPS officials are saying the district will implement a coordinated bell system to "assure a smooth transition as it moves to a full school day" while improving student safety and streamlining bus transportation.
The district will assign each school's start time, but those decisions may be appealed based on safety and instructional issues, a CPS official said. (Tribune)
CPS officials touted the lockstep bell schedule as a “safety’’ improvement that also would allow for more efficient bus routes, but one critic denounced it as “dictatorial,” according to the Sun-Times.
CPS confirmed Friday that Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso is on her way out, marking the third cabinet-level position in the district to see a change in less than three months. (Tribune) The statement was released just before 6 p.m.; here's Catalyst's story.
Chicago Public Schools is racing to spend about $16 million in federal tutoring grants by the end of the summer to avoid losing the money in a program plagued by dwindling participation and financial missteps. (Tribune)
Substance News offers its analysis of last week's Chicago Board of Education meeting.
As part of a program to increase the number and diversity of U.S. students studying in China over a five-year period, 15 Chicago public school students will get a chance to study in China this summer. (Tribune)
An unusually large number of Illinois public high school students — at least 1 out of 10 juniors — received extra time or other help to boost their scores on the ACT, including high achievers at some of the state's elite schools. Schools in wealthy enclaves with predominantly white students were at the top of the list when it comes to students getting ACT testing accommodations in Illinois, the 2011 data show.
"Teachers cannot and should not be scapegoats for the shortcomings of society that are thrust upon the schools," a retired CPS principal writes in a letter to the Sun-Times.
IN THE NATION
The Milwaukee Sentinel has started a series that looks at attempts to rethink what many consider outdated, assembly-line education in a time of fiscal constraints. The series begins by examining the intersection of technology and schools.
Verbal abuse of autistic student sparks calls for change. (USAToday)
Miami-Dade County Public Schools will debut its first video game-themed magnet this fall. But the school may be a hard sell for parents. (Miami Herald)
silly and stupid
this is not a good idea for many reasons. why do you think the bells are different now? after 100 plus years of educators running the system? another example of carpetbaggers running a system they have no vested interest in.
The Never-Ending Spectacle
CPS should be up for an Emmy for best Stupid Reality Show. It is like a clown car at the circus and everyone is running around with seltzer bottles. Coordinating the bell system! All the six-figure employees manning make-believe positions can't even figure out how to spend federal money on tutoring! Unbelievable what the state of education in Chicago has come to, and it has nothing to do with the teachers.
Let's do a reality check
Assuming 130,000,000 is what principals get for their extended day then that means
130,000,000 for ALL CPS Students
divide that by 404,151 students (per cps website as of today) = is 322.66 per student extra per year - per student
which if we divide by 180 day year ...will equal 1.79 per student per day for an extended day???
not making any judgements! but???? Probably safe to assume no raise included in this one?
"If it ain't broke
...don't fix it" is an aphorism that applies in this situation. Just what problem is the Central Office trying to fix? And if there isn't a pressing problem, then why bother?
We are supposed to believe that JCB wants to empower principals. Sheesh! This is a power grab by CO.
Please remember that this is
Please remember that this is not $130,000,000 in new funding. It is simply money that will be shuffled from downtown to the schools. Doesn't CPS tell us every year that there is simply no possible way to reduce costs at the district and area/network level? Every freaking year we hear that refrain in the context of the massive budget crisis, which more often than not results in a surplus by the end of the year.
This $130M is welcome in the schools but to what strings is it attached? There is certainly plenty more room for a reallocation of funds from downtown and networks to the classroom.
Given how dramatically the central and area offices have grown since the institution of mayoral control in the 90s it's nice to get at least a little bit of money prioritized where it should be - in the buildings with students.
New Coordinated Bell System
I find the statement that a new new coordinated bell system will "assure a smooth transition as it moves to a full school day" insulting. My colleagues
and I are already working a full school day, if not more.
1984
Will Big Brother ring the bells?
andrew
I am picturing more of the wicked witch (rahm and brizzard) and those crazy flying monkeys (the board) looking at her caldron to see what's going on in her realm (cps)
save money
just get that bell they had on Little House on the Prairie? or get Quasimodo to ring the bell in the tower ?
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