As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.
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Education Department official hears Dyett complaints
By: Sarah Karp / August 11, 2012
With the U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Peter Cunningham in the audience listening and taking notes, about 70 people gathered Friday night to repeat the story of how Dyett High School was starved of resources before CPS officials announced they were going to phase it out.
In July, local activists, parents and students, joined with 14 other cities that are also experiencing school closings, to file civil right complaints and ask for a moratorium on these actions. Officials from the Education Department are investigating the complaints and agreed to a listening tour, called a Grassroots Impact Tour, in all the cities involved.
However, they would not agree to issue a moratorium.
Cunningham said he was in town and decided he would kick off the listening tour. The hearing took place in a room at a park district building in Kenwood.
He and activists acknowledged the irony of Cunningham and the federal education department responding to grievances about school closings.
Cunningham and his boss Arne Duncan ran CPS for eight years prior to going to Washington D.C. They were arguably the architects of the policies that entail opening charter schools and closing those neighborhood schools considered to be failing. Dozens of schools were closed during Duncan’s tenure.
“We believe when there are chronically under-performing schools, this sometimes has to happen,” Cunningham said after the meeting. “Things have to change and it is hard to drive change.”
Cunningham said he could not speak to why or if the district disinvested in Dyett before labeling it failing and slating it to be phased out. With 600 schools in the system, he said he did not remember the specifics of Dyett.
Though the education department still encourages the policies that lead to school closings, Cunningham said leaders want to hear how it is impacting communities.
“We are always open to feedback, to listen and learn,” he said.
After the meeting, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization Activist Jitu Brown said he was under no illusion that the federal department of education would offer a remedy for the situation. In addition to the civil rights complaints and the listening tours, activists are planning to organize direct action.
“Do we trust them?” Brown said, referring to Department of Education officials. “Absolutely not. It is the same lyrics, different music.”
As they have since the phase out was announced in December, students and others recounted how, during the 2000s, Dyett seemed to be on the right track. Alumni said they were proud that their small school had the highest gains in students enrolling in college.
The school also had seen a big drop in the number of students being arrested and suspended. Jasmine Valentine, who graduated in 2009, said she is shocked by the current lack of resources at the school.
She said the restorative justice program at Dyett was so good that she trained people in other schools. “The restorative justice program was proof that our community cares about our school,” Valentine said.
UIC Professor Pauline Lipman presented a chart that compared course offerings last year at Northside College Prep, Lakeview and Dyett high school. In English, for example, Northside had more than 20 classes, including two Advanced Placement classes. Lakeview High School had eight classes, including one AP. Dyett had six classes and no AP classes in any subject.
Rising Dyett Junior Parish Brown said he wants to have the opportunity to take a variety of classes, especially those that would help him prepare for the ACT. He is one of the top students in his class.
“I feel like I am going into my junior year blindfolded,” he said.
Department of Education Visit
I'm glad the Dept. of Education had this meeting. I would have liked to have seen them host a meeting or a series of meetings and conduct an investigation into the impact of these policies citywide and nationally. North Lawndale is ground zero for a number of new school initiatives and actions that have yet to be proven effective, and I didn't read where this community has been engaged. The Obama and Emanuel administrations are charging full steam ahead with unproven strategies, hoping that if they keep moving, that something will happen. If they were truly interested in our children, they would pause and take an honest look at what the data are telling them, and make proper adjustments. Doing more of the same with no measurable impact is not a great use of taxpayer resources.
DOE
And Obama wonders why enthusiasm has waned.
Dyett Is Just A Tip og the Iceberg
Dyett is symptomatic of a problem plaguing the African American school community for years. With 100 schools closing and 97 in the African American community , little initiatives have been done to combat CPS's racist agenda of gentrifying communities. Racial cleansing and trying to purify schools in large urban districts, while creating a welcome mat back to the heavy populated urban school districts is part of the city's urban planning agenda. With little support from African American civil rights organizations, teachers unions and churches with huge congregations, it has been impossible to organize any resistance to the unfair policies that plague us. It appears that everyone has been paid off, silenced or given a few charter schools to run to stop them organizing a defense for public school communities.
After 12 years of this madness, people are finally waking up to the reality of what is happening. Too much , TOO little , Too late! When the first school was closed in 2001, that was the time to organize. Nothing was done then . Now the cow is out of the barn!
who could run against Rahm?--now is the time to plan it
God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water but the fire next time
dept education
Their new name should be Department of chaos and dismantling
ACT 14.6
It not madness to close schools like Dyett. It's madness to leave them open.
Adults have attachments as well as jobs at these schools, sure. But it's not the job of the people making school decisions to make the adults happy. Students change classrooms/schools regularly. They are not traumatized by a new school.
To make room for challenging schools like Noble or IB high schools many schools like Dyett need to go.
I see new high quality schools, and plans for high quality schools in many black neighborhoods. Where black children will be attending school in the future is planned. Some will be attending schools just like Dyett, and some will be at more rigorous institutions.
Some aspects of these changes aren't fair to some people. Considering the state of schools and the funding available there are no paths that responsibly take care of everyone.
Considering likely future 299 school funding I consider continuing the current neighborhood high school model to be irresponsible as well as racist/"classist".
What did a diploma from Dyett signify? How many graduates attended college outside the Chicago Colleges system. How many were prepared to attend Loyola or DePaul?
It's nice people feel good about their school. But diplomas from schools like Dyett simply aren't good enough anymore.
Disgusted
I think it's sad that people will comment on Dyett as if the children and families who attend Dyett should not have a say in the matter.
National wide, we've spent billions of dollars replacing existing schools with worse schools against the choices of parents, students and educators.
Give me my neighborhood school and the proper resources to make it work.
rhee not as smart as she thinks---
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/09/my-view-rhee-is-wrong-a...
Re: Don's comment
Closing Dyett based on demographics is one thing, closing the school because it will open the pathway for better options for the population that attended Dyett is entirely another thing. Dyett, like Crane and some other non-selective high schools, became a high schools of last resort for students with disabilities. Last year 25.6% of the students at Dyett were formally identified and had IEPs.
Don's solution of creating great options for these students is not all so simple as closing down Dyett and opening a Noble Street or Urban Prep charter. While charter schools are serving students with disabilities they are not serving many of the most disabled students in the system according to data from the Gates Compact [http://www.cps.edu/NewSchools/Documents/Chicago_District_Charter_Compact.pdf] a document both CPS and the charter schools agreed to.
The issues of closing and providing supposedly better options are not so simple as Don would lead us to believe. The really bigger question is given the statistical decline in poor children in Chicago, particularly poor black children - why do we need more charter schools? Every demographic indicator relating to Chicago indicates that there is a population shift taking place involving both low income African Americans and Hispanics.
The U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2010 showed that Chicago lost more than 180,000 African-American residents, causing the population to fall to 1.6 million. Chicago's African-American community is migrating to Southern States and to the south suburbs. Roderick J. Harrison, a Howard University researcher has stated he does not believe the decline in Chicago's African-American community can be stopped and it might incease more rapidly because there are too many factors pushing people out of the city.
Chicago does not need new schools of any type, in fact it will be required to close schools for many years to come.
Rod Estvan
Re:Don
Thank you Rod for bringing clarity to Don's comments. Saying Dyett and other neighborhood schools should close because a diploma from Dyett is basically worthless is saying a diploma from Chicago Public Schools in general is worthless which we all know is not true. I did some science outreach work at Dyett last summer and was looking to move a major STEM lab there last fall. I have watched CPS turn Dyett from an excellent year-round elementary school to the replacement high school for students in the community who did not meet the new King College Prep admission requirements. We knew at the time that the student population at Dyett would be the same population we had at King before all existing students were phased out to make way for the "New" King College Prep" and Dyett has become, like Crane and the remaining school at South Shore, a place of last resort for not just students with disabilities but many neighborhood students in general.
I have had exhaustive conversations with colleagues, community organizers, and parents who are concerned over the school closings. We have continued to ask why should charter schools be the answer to the problem? Why can't CPS put the same resources into and offer the same classes that students at Northside College Prep, King College Prep, Whitney Young, and other schools have access to? Why are our students the ones who lose and when the new charters and turnarounds come in where do many of the students who don't meet the academic or behavioral requirements end up? But more importantly, where are these students going to wind up? Obviously the answer is not in a Chicago Public School.
This is what we should be fighting mad about but for the last ten or so years we have watched the process and have had very little impact in making the Board hear our voices. I graduated from South Shore High School and attended the meeting on the new South Shore IB school in Board chambers that was well attended by students, teachers, parents, and community members. Too bad the fate of the North Building students had already been decided at the time of hearing which was just held to appease the outcry. This effectively eliminated any existing South Shore student from attending the new school. Tearing down the North Building and promising the new school as a replacement was the rhetoric the Board fed everyone. That was until it was time for the students, faculty, and administration to move in. HALT!! Only taking Freshmen! Well look into what has happened at the New South Shore in only two short years.
As Rod mentions, there is a shift in the African American population in Chicago moving to the suburbs or out of state. Keep an eye on Dyett! The school has been neglected in many respects by the Board but it received a new gym makeover thanks to staff and ESPN and the garden program is outstanding. Watch the building change hands to a University of Chicago charter and receive a glistening makeover with an entirely different population than the one that currently exists at Dyett. It's time for us to stop allowing Chicago Public Schools to take away our neighborhood schools and leave many students with no options for education. We must insist that all students, regardless of what CPS school they attend, receive an equal education.
And BTW, many students with Dyett, and diplomas from other neighborhood schools, have gone off to four year colleges as well as junior colleges which proves it's not the school name on the diploma but the desire and motivation of the student who receives the diploma that determines their success.
Consultants hired by school
Consultants hired by school districts to project population trends are notoriously inaccurate. I'm sure CPS considers a wide range of possibilities when planning. It also seems that they believe they have some control over influencing the size of the school population by offering "quality seats".
Can CPS influence more families with choices to stay? They won't if the only choice is the typical CPS high school.
The CPS plan as written will concentrate more LD students into the remaining traditional neighborhood school.
CPS doesn't need new schools in black areas if we want to assume 95% of african american children are intractably LD. We can send the easiest and brightest black kids to Lindblom and call it a day. Easy.
There is no evidence that schools such as Dyett will ever be able to adequately prepare the more capable portion of their student population for university.
Charters such as Noble wouldn't be necessary if a school such as Dyett had a median ACT of 14.5 but a top 25% ACT of 21. But of course that never happens, even at much higher funding levels.
There is a huge risk with school change of SPED students becoming even worse off.
If I had one wish for
If I had one wish for education in Chicago that would be to tell everyone who doesn't have a child in the system, doesn't live in Chicago and Is not a part of the school community that you make decisions for to exit the scene. We realize that poor minority children have become a "cash cow" for the "wanna be" well to do crowds across the country. (Who view education as a gold mine for climbing the ladder of success. and promotions) In addition, The privatization model of education allows and promotes warehousing of poor children for the sake of higher echelons in the public school setting to make a dollar by attacking parents, teachers and students to justify their own self-centered agenda.
When we talk about solutions to the problem , why do the solutions have to encompass an agenda alien and foreign to the people that are supposed to benefit from the initiative. Twenty years ago when children of parents who had drug addictions entered the schools in full- blown numbers, why weren't plans made then to accommodate the needs of these students? Instead CPS launched a full blown assault on teachers who teach under served children. Who were the beneficiaries of this initiative, not students nor parents, nor teachers but the uneducated illiterate education bosses (who know nothing about education) those who have never taught, never been a parent in the system and never bothered to learn the craft of an educator. Those who run through the system, make their money, get a promotion, ruin everyone's life and leave before we can catch up with them. These are the same people that line their pockets with city money make foolish decisions that have collapsed our educational system here in Chicago and created a culture of young people so ill and with suck a lack of social skills that it has created a culture of violence putting Chicago on the map as one of the most violent cities in the world.
Some say it's the parents fault, some say it's the teachers and some say the students. In each case, neither of these parties have the ability to make substantial change happen Their hands are being tied by the corporate privateer money grabbers running the system today. The only solution to the problem is to"grow your own" educational leaders who have authentic insight in regards to what is acceptable in the schools that serve their communities.
I have an IDEA since CPS
I have an IDEA since CPS teachers/ educators are so greedy and fail to teach we should just HOME SCHOOL all the students. Close the dilapidated buildings let parents provide Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner. Prepare lesson plans, Assign school work check papers and assign homework. I hope they don't need special services, ie.social, psych, hearing, glasses. Fire all the teachers I guarantee you that there will be Mayhem worst then what you are seeing today on CHIraq streets. You cant blame all the crime on GANG BANGERS. Sociology 101 create some jobs for their parents and activities for kids. Remember all the field houses for after school that was the reason behind that DUMBO. Then you bring in these outsiders who don't know sh** about Chirag culture or neighborhoods. WHY? b/c they would be dumber than you.
Rosita
You live in a substance news fantasy world. But I do appreciate your passion for wanting better.
Well, that's about all for your credibility...
You looked at those two comments and picked Rosita's to attack?!
WTH?
The Bitter Pill That's Hard to Swallow
When anyone, CPS, the Board, or consultants look at population trends they aren't projecting imaginary numbers. The figures are real and come from U.S. Census data so where the notion of notoriously inaccurate numbers pulled from the imaginary hat of a consultant to project school populations comes from shows there is a lack of really understanding what is going on here.
Before CPS began it's massive overhaul of neighborhood schools there was the beginning of a population shift. I am a twenty three year veteran teacher of CPS. In the late 90's we stood on top of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School and watched them implode the public housing buildings on Lake Park. The high rises on Cottage Grove soon followed and as these buildings came down the enrollment in King also dropped. The same happened to DuSable as they cleared out Stateway and Robert Taylor Homes. The same happened on the West side with the demolition of the Ickes and the high rise building on Western just north of the expressway. These families were relocated in many cases to the suburbs. I was there when we went through two rounds of interviews only to have those thrown out due to unfair process, went on leave for a year and worked for a U of C charter school, and came back to King only to see a group of first year teachers brought in by the principal in her attempts to gain favor with downtown and keep her job when the school made the final conversion to a college prep.
And what wide range of possibilities did CPS have when planning the New King College Prep? First Paul Vallas and the District lied to parents when he promised them CPS would bring in support programs to the elementary feeder schools to ramp up 5th-8th grade scores to allow these students to meet the new academic stanine requirements for admission into King. These programs never materialized and as King prepared for phase out there had to be a school that would house the neighborhood students unable to meet King College Prep's higher academic standards and admission process. Thus the transformation of Walter H. Dyett. Dyett would become the neighborhood high school that would replace King and everyone knew what would happen. King was a community and there were teachers there who had taught the parents of the students we had in the 90's. There was a level of respect on both ends and our students understood when they took a misstep their parents would get a call from their former teacher. We lost that family when the final class graduated from the old King High School and the torch was never picked up in the same way at Dyett.
And you're right to assume that CPS doesn't need new schools in African American communities. But wait, if we assume that 95% of African American children are intractably LD that's saying basically all African Americans have some learning disability and we pass this on to our children. This isn't only about special needs students and the majority of students in CPS neighborhood schools aren't LD, EMH, or TMH but have other disabilities such as behavior disorders and yes, gifted students fall into the category of special education.
Don, seriously???? "We can send the easiest and brightest black kids to Lindblom and call it a day." No we can't because there are way more bright and intelligent black students that surpass the entrance requirements even for Lindblom and there won't be enough space for all of them anyway. Why not suggest they be sent to Northside College Prep, Walter Payton, Chicago Ag, Whitney Young, or Jones? Then we close all under-performing neighborhood schools and leave the rest of the population out of an education as you suggest and just call it a day.
There is evidence that schools like Dyett, Fenger, South Shore, Crane, DuSable, and others have, can, and do produce the more capable students to go on to universities and get degrees. My accountant has a CPA degree from Loyola, I have a BA degree from the University of Illinois and a MS from DePaul, two of my students, one from Fenger and one from South Shore were accepted into West Point and the latter has graduated with honors. I taught Chemistry and Physics at Dyett last summer and one of my students who was a Junior is headed off to a university this month. I am sure, if I ask, my friends who are still teaching at Dyett can get a list of students that have graduated over the last few years and have gone on and graduated with a four year degree.
To discount the ability of the teachers or the students at Dyett or any of our other neighborhood schools is not only biased but following the same train of thought that has been prevalent about our children for so many years. Last Monday, 17 milllion viewers around the world saw CPS students from neighborhood schools dare to dream and do amazing things as part of NASA's Imagine Mars Project during the live broadcast of the Mars Curiosity Mission landing. I worked with these students and am still so proud of what they accomplished.
I refuse to let anyone who isn't working in the schools with our children talk about what should be done with our schools in our community and with our students. It has taken years to get where we are today with median ACT scores of 14.5 but understand that this too is all part of a larger plan and for those who aren't close enough to it to recognize it for what it is then shame on you for thinking this is the way it has always been. I teach in our neighborhood schools because I care about my children and I have been fortunate to have taught everything from regular classes to AP. I didn't need a charter school when I went to CPS and neither did any of my classmates. This weekend my high school salutatorian will be in town to MC the screening of S. Epatha Merkerson's, of Law and Order fame, documentary "The Contradictions of Fair Hope." Merkerson and my classmate both graduated from Yale University. She is organizing a gathering of black Yale alumni to attend the screening in Chicago. I'm sure many of these alumni graduated from a CPS school too.
All African American students aren't disabled, hopeless, or in need of the Great White Charters to save a generation. All teachers aren't greedy and fail to teach either. Most of us go out of our way to buy supplies and materials for our students and bring in as many resources as we can. If you want to know what the real problem is in our neighborhood schools I'll tell you. If you graduated from a CPS high school, when was the last time you visited? When was the last LSC meeting you attended? How active is your school's alumni association? How much money have you given or helped raised for your school to support programs in art, music, athletics, theater, etc?
I went back to teach at my high school twice and would always tell my students that I sat where they are sitting now and while I got a good education at South Shore I wanted to make sure they got a better one. This is the key. Instead of putting millions of dollars into charters and pushing students out, bring money, resources, libraries, technology, and new approaches to teaching to our neighborhood schools starting at the elementary level.
When we get students in high school reading at the 3rd and 4th grade level what miracles could anyone think teachers can do when they see on average at least 100 students a day. It's time for people who know the truth to stop attempting to hide it behind the mask of a longer school day, charter schools, and other fly-by-night initiatives that have fallen as flat as many neighborhood ACT school scores. Get a big glass of water and try not to make a disgusting face as you try to get the truth to go down.
And remember, ignorance is truly bliss.
Don I Care Less What You Think
Don,
I am so sorry but you words and opinions mean absolutely nothing to me. Don't waste your time making comments about me. If I took people like you seriously, I wouldn't be writing on this blog at all.
Pam , I agree with you, All
Pam , I agree with you,
All African American students aren't disabled, hopeless, or in need of the Great White Charters to save a generation. All teachers aren't greedy and fail to teach either. Most of us go out of our way to buy supplies and materials for our students and bring in as many resources as we can. If you want to know what the real problem is in our neighborhood schools I'll tell you. If you graduated from a CPS high school, when was the last time you visited? When was the last LSC meeting you attended? How active is your school's alumni association? How much money have you given or helped raised for your school to support programs in art, music, athletics, theater, etc?
Job Piriating
Too many good teachers were thrown out of their job. Just look at whom have replaced the standard tenured teachers with wisdom. The young teachers, fresh out of college whom are weaker but wiser. In these days; wiser just does not cut it. The children are tough; they will eat them alive. Even older teachers have to struggle with today's children. Discipline is a very big problem. You can't teach them if they won't sit down. Goi8ng backwards and hiring all young teachers will certainly backfire. they are i for the shock of their lives. Teaching is not a cute job. It is not a tender job. Teaching is a very stressful job. Now there's added Common Core and new evaluations. This is a bunch of mess. Teachers should be allowed to go in and try to take the students to the next level. And you wonder why test scores are low. Too many changes. There are a lot of young Principals out there who does not have a clue as to how to run their schools or to work positively with their staff. It has come to; hiring and firing. Poor tenured teachers don't stand a chance. What has happened at Cps as to respect to senior teachers is a disgrace to the teaching profession. It is a shameful thing to have done. If people are laid off; they should be called back if anyone is called back. It shows that Cps is not being truthful. They are having Principals put tenured teachers out on the streets. It is an epidemic. It is terrible. It is disrespectful. It is sad. No thanks for the tolling. And the reward for it all. The change is going to take the children farther into failure. The has to be a reward for wrong doings. This is why it is piracy.
CPS identification rate for black students
I have to assume that Don went on his rant relating to the identification of black students as learning disabled because I noted the high percentage of students at Dyett with IEPs, and I mentioned the fact that other CPS general high school faced large numbers too. As I stated, and at least one other poster noted, schools like Dyett are the schools that students with IEPs that do not have strong testing data can get into. Charters do take students with IEPs (particularly moderate LD students) and they are also identifying students themselves, but as I indicated charters are not educating many of those students who are more disabled and I provided a source for my statement too.
But from this Don jumps to the conclusion that CPS is identifying black children as LD massively, this is simply not true and I have no idea where Don got that idea. In 2010, Black CPS students constituted 45% of the total population of students, and black students formed 49.3% of all CPS students with IEPs. If we compare this identification rate to Illinois as a whole we see something interesting. In 2010, Black students composed 18.9% of all public school students in our state, but they composed 22.6% of all students with IEPs in the state. Nationally Black students accounted in 2002 for only 14.8% of the general population of 6-to-21-year-old students, but they make up 20% of the special education population across all disabilities. (see Losen, D. J., & Orfield, G. (2002). Racial inequity in special education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. )
Really just looking at this data the over identification rate of CPS in comparison to that of the state and nation as a whole is really not statistically significant which I think is remarkable since there is a statistically significant correlation between students being raised in poverty and disability.
In the field of special education we discuss this issues in terms of "disproportionality." One of the most critical articles on this issue was written by Wanda J. Blanchett for Educational Researcher in 2005 and I do not believe CPS would meet her definition of a school district that was radically over identifying black children based on comparative data. Now this does not mean that all is well with CPS special education, but the truth it what it is.
Rod Estvan
Thanks Rod - Let's stick with the Data It Tells the Story!
Thanks Rod - Let's stick with the Data It Tells the Story!
Sad But True
I agree Ed. Sad But TRUE!
Stick with what data?
I have no idea how Rod's statistics relate to what I wrote.
I don't have an opinion as to whether black students have too few or too many IEPs. I hope every students who can benefit from an IEP is evaluated.
I also don't have an opinion as to the percent of Dyett students with significant disability.
I do have an opinion that there doesn't seem to be much urgency in getting the high potential students in schools such as Dyett into higher performing schools.
I'm fairly confident that Sicat is trying to make recommendations that take into account the needs of all students equally. I'm sure he will continue to make many people unhappy. Hopefully that effect will fall much more on the adults rather than the students.
The south side is not awash with effective college prep schools who high performance students leave no place for LD range kids. Perhaps the problem is we've stuck "college prep" onto too many schools, allowing principals too much leeway in minimizing the LD population.
Schools called "college prep", who use social promotion, yet exclude LD kids. That's messed up. And not a Rahm designed mess, I'll point out.
I'll also point out that there's no testing to get into any charters, including Noble. Apparently you have too many fancy CTU schools excluding students.
I'm sure George at substance is going to be all over this elitist south side CTU school hegemony!
m sure George at substance is going to be all over this elitist
Is that a threat?? Stop this silly nonsense Don. Take your medication and go to sleep!
BYE BYE,,,
What I Do With Good Conversations
I love opinions, especially when they focus on some inherent problems with education in Chicago and the issue of eradicating our neighborhood schools. That's what the original article was about. The individuals that these decisions will affect the most however aren't those of us posting here but the very students that currently go to Dyett. It's their voice that is missing in this conversation and I'm sure they would have some interesting things to say. Charters don't have admission tests but according to Don the fancy CTU schools are working hard to exclude students. Well in case you didn't pick it up from my or the other posters comments the charters have their own self selection process which is exclusionary as well. Our society is one of have and have nots but there are always options even if you are a bright, high achieving student at a neighborhood high school. There is the college bridge program that is offered by most universities in the city. Many of my students have taken advantage of this program over the years. There is the Illinois Virtual High School, and the Chicago Virtual High School (both free) and CPS students can take classes with teacher support during the day or after-school. Many teachers tutor not only the struggling students but those who are high potential as well. We provide them with academic enrichment opportunities, get them involved in debate, mock trial, FIRST Robotics, and I've always taken my English classes to the Shakespeare Theatre and when I began teaching science I've involved hundreds in STEM programs and competitions.
There is no elitist south side CTU school hegemony! There are only teachers who really care about our students and will fight to ensure they don't lose out in the new public education landscape. And that's why we are seeing tenured teachers lose their jobs like forty going north. We know there is a PLAN underway and we are hoping people wake up and see it for what it is. Hopefully my colleagues, parents, and community members that are part of Dyett are reading this discussion and will share it with the students.
Well said!
Well said!
Re: The Bitter Pill That's Hard to Swallow
Thank-you, thank-you for intelligently responding to the propaganda espoused by Don. As an alumnus of CPS, former educator, parent, and grandparent of CPS students, it's been painful to watch the deliberate and meticulous destruction of the neighborhood schools in the name of: "Our children can't wait...they deserve better...time to make tough choices." I only ask for equity...same accountability, rules and regulations, and resources provided to the charters. This includes ensuring that the charters refrain from sending students (especially special needs students) back to their neighborhood schools, under the auspices of 'parental requested transfers'. Oh, I forgot... 'Truth' is the missing component.
Hey Don
This blog site is for intelligent conversation and people who base their arguments on facts and reason. Your silliness belongs on Russo's site. In fact he will probably agree with many of your assertions.
What does this mean? Sounds
What does this mean? Sounds like socialist communist propaganda.
Elitist south side CTU school hegemony???
I agree with this,
There are only teachers who really care about our students and will fight to ensure they don't lose out in the new public education landscape. And that's why we are seeing tenured teachers lose their jobs like forty going north. We know there is a PLAN underway and we are hoping people wake up and see it for what it is. Hopefully my colleagues, parents, and community members that are part of Dyett are reading this discussion and will share it with the students.
We are aware of the displacement of veteran and minority teachers. That is our issue. Dyett is just 1 of 100 schools that have been affected by these corporate policies. That's the point.!! We need all hands on to push back on this initiative. That is why I formed CAUSE. Chicago Alliance of Urban School Educators. I am also the SS NAACP Displaced Teacher Chair. We have a serious problem that is effecting every aspect of our school communities. We meet every Tuesday @ Operation PUSH @ 6:00 p.m..
CAUSE- Chicago Alliance o
CAUSE- Chicago Alliance o Urban School Educators IS WORKING ON AN INITIATIVE TO HAVE FREEDOM SCHOOLS FOR OUR CHILDREN WITH LICENSED EDUCATORS IF THERE IS A TEACHERS STRIKE. IF YOU HAVE AN ORGANIZATION INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT ME @ rcchatonda@yahoo.com
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