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The Chicago Board of Education unanimously gave the go-ahead to CEO Ron Huberman’s scaled back plan to close or turnaround eight schools, including two venerable neighborhood high schools.
After a month of packed community hearings and protests, today’s meeting was pretty low-key with a few speeches calling for a moratorium on school actions and some teachers pleading for more time.
Three aldermen, Sandi Jackson, Pat Dowell and Ed Smith, told the board that they wanted them to stop the school closing and turnarounds for at least a year and to do a better job of reaching out to the public.
CTU President Marilyn Stewart reiterated her opposition, as did several members of the progressive Caucus of Rank and File Educators. “These nuclear options do not work,” said CORE member Liz Brown.
The response was at least partly tempered by the fact that over the last week Huberman pulled seven schools off the list of those being targeted with actions. Some of those schools, including Lincoln Park’s Prescott Elementary, might have drawn a crowd.
After Huberman ran through his modified PowerPoint presentation, board members asked him about four soft questions, mostly about the way school closings and turnarounds were communicated to the public.
Member Norman Bobins asked Huberman if the schools that meet the closing or turnaround criteria -- but were spared this year -- know that they face actions in the future. “I can’t take this every year,” he said.
Huberman responded by telling Bobins that he planned to hold meetings at schools before next year’s decisions are announced to inform parents about the state of their school and to see if they can come up with internal plans for improvement.
The action by the board clears the way for about 269 teachers to be laid off. Those whose schools are being turned around can reapply for their jobs.
Those schools that will be turned around are Bradwell, Curtis, Phillips, Marshall and Deneen. McCorkle will be consolidated with Beethoven and Schneider will be phased out, losing a grade a year. Las Casas will be closed.
The board withdrew motions that would have awarded contracts for the Academy of Urban School Leadership to turnaround Bradwell, Deneen, Curtis and Phillips. Chief Administrative Officer Robert Runcie says district officials still plan to have AUSL, which provides a yearlong teacher training program to turnaround teachers, work with these schools.
However, the district needs to have a public hearing before awarding such contracts and then will present these motions at the March board meeting, he says.
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Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 9:56 PM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
Board of Education Hides School Closing Votes from Community
CORE Calls Turnarounds a “Layoff Policy”; Warns of Escalating School Violence
Today eight Chicago Public Schools were closed or “turned around” by a secret Board of Education vote. Abandoning past practice, the Board did not have a public roll call vote. Mary Richardson-Lowry, the new Board President, simply ordered to “record the last positive vote,” not even mentioning the schools by name, but referred coldly to them by Board agenda numbers.
“This was a cowardly act by the Board,” said CORE Co-Chair and teacher at King College Prep Karen Lewis. “This unelected Board sidestepped even the smallest measure of accountability today. Clearly, thousands of Chicagoans fighting school closings scared the Board into hiding.”
CORE Co-Chair and teacher and Lawndale Little Village High School teacher Jackson Potter warned that the Board’s turnaround policy is dangerous. “You can’t easily reproduce long-term teacher-student, school-community bonds forged over decades with an entirely new, mostly novice staff who doesn’t stay more than a few years at the school. Unfortunately, what may prove easy to reproduce is the escalating violence like we’ve seen at Fenger High School, a CPS turnaround school. The turnaround fanned the flames in a volatile school and no one who knew the students could extinguish the fire. The school erupted and Derrion Albert lost his life. This must stop.”
Lewis added that, “Turnarounds are simply a layoff policy. Between turnarounds and charters, the Board is creating a low-wage, high-turnover work force which is a penny-wise, pound-foolish business move, not an education improvement plan.”
On Monday, hundreds of parents, students, and teachers packed the City Council chambers to urge support for the Council’s school closings moratorium resolution. The group then picketed on the “5th floor” to demand a meeting with Mayor Daley on school closings. Representatives of targeted schools and CORE co-chair Jackson Potter are presently in negotiations to meet with the Mayor. “The Board is not in power. Ultimately the Mayor is responsible for our schools,” said Potter.
CORE is continuing its fight against turnarounds in the courts. On behalf of African American teachers fired via the turnaround policy, CORE filed an EEOC complaint against the Board of Education, citing that it has a disparate impact on African American teachers. The EEOC has upheld the case and CORE is pursuing it. “This isn’t over,” vowed Lewis.
CORE Calls Turnarounds a “Layoff Policy”; Warns of Escalating School Violence
Today eight Chicago Public Schools were closed or “turned around” by a secret Board of Education vote. Abandoning past practice, the Board did not have a public roll call vote. Mary Richardson-Lowry, the new Board President, simply ordered to “record the last positive vote,” not even mentioning the schools by name, but referred coldly to them by Board agenda numbers.
“This was a cowardly act by the Board,” said CORE Co-Chair and teacher at King College Prep Karen Lewis. “This unelected Board sidestepped even the smallest measure of accountability today. Clearly, thousands of Chicagoans fighting school closings scared the Board into hiding.”
CORE Co-Chair and teacher and Lawndale Little Village High School teacher Jackson Potter warned that the Board’s turnaround policy is dangerous. “You can’t easily reproduce long-term teacher-student, school-community bonds forged over decades with an entirely new, mostly novice staff who doesn’t stay more than a few years at the school. Unfortunately, what may prove easy to reproduce is the escalating violence like we’ve seen at Fenger High School, a CPS turnaround school. The turnaround fanned the flames in a volatile school and no one who knew the students could extinguish the fire. The school erupted and Derrion Albert lost his life. This must stop.”
Lewis added that, “Turnarounds are simply a layoff policy. Between turnarounds and charters, the Board is creating a low-wage, high-turnover work force which is a penny-wise, pound-foolish business move, not an education improvement plan.”
On Monday, hundreds of parents, students, and teachers packed the City Council chambers to urge support for the Council’s school closings moratorium resolution. The group then picketed on the “5th floor” to demand a meeting with Mayor Daley on school closings. Representatives of targeted schools and CORE co-chair Jackson Potter are presently in negotiations to meet with the Mayor. “The Board is not in power. Ultimately the Mayor is responsible for our schools,” said Potter.
CORE is continuing its fight against turnarounds in the courts. On behalf of African American teachers fired via the turnaround policy, CORE filed an EEOC complaint against the Board of Education, citing that it has a disparate impact on African American teachers. The EEOC has upheld the case and CORE is pursuing it. “This isn’t over,” vowed Lewis.
Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:02 PM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
CORE teachers take off school to attend the City Council meeting on Monday.
More CORE teachers take the day off school to attend the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday.
CORE teachers seem pretty unconcerned about actually TEACHING their students.
More CORE teachers take the day off school to attend the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday.
CORE teachers seem pretty unconcerned about actually TEACHING their students.
Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:41 PM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
Sean, keep grasping for straws.
I'm a CORE member and I've attended Board of Ed meetings. If the meetings were held in the evening then teachers, students, parents, and community members would not have to take off work to attend. Of course, the Board does not actually want people to attend these meetings. No surprise there. CPS officials also call schools to yell at principals about teachers attending Board meetings. Really.
I try to attend with students as part of a field trip, though. There is so much to learn about how CPS and the Board actually work. Fascinating, really. These are among the most popular field trips of the year.
I'm a CORE member and I've attended Board of Ed meetings. If the meetings were held in the evening then teachers, students, parents, and community members would not have to take off work to attend. Of course, the Board does not actually want people to attend these meetings. No surprise there. CPS officials also call schools to yell at principals about teachers attending Board meetings. Really.
I try to attend with students as part of a field trip, though. There is so much to learn about how CPS and the Board actually work. Fascinating, really. These are among the most popular field trips of the year.
Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 6:47 AM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
I'm one of the CORE teachers who got up at 4AM so I could get to 125 S. Clark and stand in line for 2 hours so that I could speak for 2 minutes. As a teacher, I have been given 3 days a year to take care of personal business. I've used exactly 1 now. These board decisions affect the lives of thousands of teachers, parents, and students in the city and it's a travesty that they hold them when teachers need to be in school and many parents need to work. Last night Ron Huberman gave an inaccurate number as he talked about a lack of parents protesting at the board meeting last night. He said there were 5, but three separate schools had over 20 parents each there. I suppose my personal business days would be better spent checking out a Cubs game or taking a mental health day, but I care about education. That's actually why a lot of us became teachers.
Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 8:21 AM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
I for one am glad that CORE has been turning up at the Board meetings. Until they started doing it, no one else did. How many schools were closed in relative silence in the past 5 or 6 years? If the CTU leadership isn't going to represent the teachers, someone has to.
Like Joe said, I'd rather have teachers taking a personal day to defend students and schools than chugging beer at Cubs games in the spring.
Way to go CORE! You've got my vote because you have proven that you will fight for us.
Like Joe said, I'd rather have teachers taking a personal day to defend students and schools than chugging beer at Cubs games in the spring.
Way to go CORE! You've got my vote because you have proven that you will fight for us.
Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 10:22 AM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
We'lll see if there are only 8 being closed this fall. Huberman has been saying if he doesn't get concessions from the CTU, he will close 100 more. I can only guess that means all schools with enrollment lower than 300-350 will be consolidated with other schools.
Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 12:05 PM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
i agree board meetings should be in the evening. Teachers will HAVE to make concessions. You can't expect a 4% pay increase when everyone is stuggling and central office staff is taking at least 15 furlough days.
Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 12:31 PM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
Before CPS asks to break the Board's contract with teachers and education personnel they first need to admit that they must also break all of their other contracts. CPS says they can't make cuts in other areas because it would be break contracts. Why doesn't that same argument apply to the Board's agreement with the Union? It is disingenuous for CPS to argue that it is appropriate to break some contracts and not others.
I don't believe anyone should lose pay or take furlough days. I believe that our pathetic, largely Democratic state legislators should get their act together and work out a budget. And that budget should include enough resources to lift Illinois from dead last in the nation in education spending.
The city should also redirect back into education the hundreds of millions that TIFs take away each year. And if the object of cutting teacher pay is to spread the hurt, well, then let's spread the hurt: everyone should pay a tiny bit more in taxes so that education and children won't have to suffer.
By the way, do central office staffers work under a contract or are they at-will employees? I have no idea.
I don't believe anyone should lose pay or take furlough days. I believe that our pathetic, largely Democratic state legislators should get their act together and work out a budget. And that budget should include enough resources to lift Illinois from dead last in the nation in education spending.
The city should also redirect back into education the hundreds of millions that TIFs take away each year. And if the object of cutting teacher pay is to spread the hurt, well, then let's spread the hurt: everyone should pay a tiny bit more in taxes so that education and children won't have to suffer.
By the way, do central office staffers work under a contract or are they at-will employees? I have no idea.
Mon Mar 1, 2010 at 11:50 AM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
Most central office workers like most employees everywhere are at will. Believe it or not, there are some very hard working people in central office putting in 60 plus hours per week who have kids in college and mortgages and the furlough days really hurt.
Wed Mar 3, 2010 at 11:35 AM
It's official: Eight schools will be closed or turned around
Questions for Parents to ask the Principal of their children’s poorly performing public school.
I want to see (our school) succeed.
I believe the challenge for (our school) is changing the perception of the school by producing students with high grade point averages.
Is (our school) convincing students that (our school) is helping them achieve their career goals?
Is (our school) convincing parents to provide the support needed for their children to success in college?
Is (our school) raising the grade point averages of their students?
Marc Sims
773-507-0724
I want to see (our school) succeed.
I believe the challenge for (our school) is changing the perception of the school by producing students with high grade point averages.
Is (our school) convincing students that (our school) is helping them achieve their career goals?
Is (our school) convincing parents to provide the support needed for their children to success in college?
Is (our school) raising the grade point averages of their students?
Marc Sims
773-507-0724
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