school daze september 30, 2013

7/27/2019 School Daze September 30, 2013

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Gates Foundation Funding Propels

Massive School Closings in Chicago

You mean to tell me

CPS has destroyed

neighborhood schools

in return for $100,000?

In this Issue:

Gates Foundation Funding

Propels Massive School

Closings in Chicago

Neighborhood Schools Fair

Public Officials, theElected School Board and

School Closings

Other News

September 30, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1 School Daze [email protected]

School Daze

Chicago Public Schools signed ontothe Gates Foundation District CharterCompact in December 2011. TheCompact requires that districts give

charters equal funding to publicschools; close 25% of the publicschools and prioritize turning thebuildings over to charters. This inexchange for the opportunitynot aguarantee of fundingto compete

with otherPhoto of Bill and Melinda Gates from Wikipedia

school districts around the country for up to $27 million for professionaldevelopment and capital dollars for charter schools only. To date Chicago PublicSchools has only received $100,000 from Gates, while Microsoft walks off with anexclusive contract for cloud computing and who knows what other contracts forsoftware.

Chicago Public Schools has recently closed 50 schools in overwhelmingly AfricanAmerican neighborhoods. They have also adjusted state-mandated fundingformulas at the local level to equalize funding between the charters and publicschools. As a result, local public school budgets have been decreased by over aquarter billion dollars ($260.6 million) while charter school budgets have increasedby $80 million. Since the school closures, we have seen increased class sizes;inadequate local school budgets; increased violence; loss of jobs in impactedcommunities and severe hits to the school curricula. You mean to tell me CPS hasdestroyed neighborhood schools in return for $100,000?

Every school district around the country that has engaged in massive schoolclosures while opening charters at warp speed have participated in the GatesDistrict Charter Compact. The charters are expanding at a faster rate than theirinternal capacities can support. The data show that charters perform at about thesame level as public schools. The distribution of the good,the mediocre and the badare about equal between charters and public schools--in spite of the additionalpolitical and financial support the charters get.

The irony is a large part of the Gates fortune was gained through the public schoolshe's destroying.

Updates on issues impacting our schools

from a North Lawndale perspective.

Published by Valerie F. Leonard

Page 1

School Daze is published byValerie F. Leonard. Valerie is aconsultant to nonprofitorganizations and is very active inthe North Lawndale community.


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Neighborhood Schools Fair

There will be a neighborhood school fair at Clemente High School on Saturday, November 16, 2013, from 11:00 am to3:00 pm. The Neighborhood School Fair will let prospective parents know that neighborhood schools are a good choicefor their children and help parents already at neighborhood schools strengthen their schools. We want to highlight themany wonderful programs and involved families at neighborhood schools across the city and bring together parents andstudents for a meet and greet that reaches across neighborhood boundaries.

Get TicketsherePlease register for participation as an individual here:http://bit.ly/14qUnxYPlease register your school or organization here:http://bit.ly/14qTTbbFor more information, [email protected] call 872-444-6880.

Caption describing picture or graphic.

Page 2 September 30, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1 School Daze [email protected]
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Public Officials, the Elected School Board and School ClosingsOver the past year, a number of organizations and ad hoc groups on education, including an elected school board, massiveschool closings and funding for pre-kindergarten. Our experiences are outlined below.

President Obama

President Obama's education policies and education budget have created an environment where massive school closuresand rapid expansion of charter schools can flourish across the country. His signature Race to the Top program a

competitive grant program is designed to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for educationinnovation and reform; achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains instudent achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring student preparationfor success in college and careers; and implementing ambitious plans in four core education reform areas:

1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to competein the global economy;

2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about howthey can improve instruction;

3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they areneeded most; and

4. Turning around our lowest-achieving schoolsStates must support local school districts in turning around these schools by implementing one of the four school

intervention models turnaround model, restart model, school closure, or transformation model

States applying for Race to the Top funds were rewarded for prioritizing charter school expansion in their applications.The program was funded for $4.35 billion in 2010, and an additional $1.35 billion in 2011. The Academy for UrbanSchool Learning (AUSL) essentially has a monopoly on turnarounds in the City of Chicago. They have reportedlyreceived over $10 million from the federal government.AUSL gets an extra $420 per student, above the normal per-pupilallotment and CPS typically provides significant capital funding to renovate their buildings. Reportedly, 2 of 24 of theirturnaround schools are not on probation. David Vitale, the President of the Chicago Board of Education, is the formerboard chairman for AUSL. Tim Cawley, who is the Chief Administrative Officer for Chicago Public Schools is a formermanaging director of AUSL.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Mayor Emanuel closed 50 schools in mostly African American communities around the country, utilizing the same tacticsrecommended by the Broad Foundation. He manufactured a $1 billion budget deficit going on for the second year in arow. He used inaccurate financial data, enrollment data and utilization data to justify the closures. He spent 9 out of the10 months in the school year on school closings, which created a negative environment for learning. He lobbied theLegislature on things like SB-7 (a bill which, among other things, reduced collective bargaining rights for teachers andincreased the length of the school day); equalizing funding for charter schools and getting an extension on releasing thelist of closing schools. He spent virtually none of his time in Springfield lobbying for increased school funding for theschool district as a whole.

Congressman Danny K. Davis

Congressman Danny K. Davis held a joint public meeting with Congressman Bobby Rush last spring to hear Chicagoans'experiences and concerns with school closings. They invited representatives from CPS, CTU, SEIU and variouscommunity stakeholders to testify. Congressman Davis is also a co-host of the Garfield Majors Show. Over the years, hehas invited a number of community stakeholders to participate as guests and to call in regarding the elected school boardand school closures. These groups include, but are not limited to, CTU, the Lawndale Alliance and Raise Your Hand. Hisstaff has participated in meetings with the Committee to Save North Lawndale Schools to develop an Alternative Plan toSchool Closures. He has also sent representatives from time to time to attend community-based press conferences onschool closures, as well as public meetings sponsored by CPS.


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State Senator Patricia Van Pelt

Senator Van Pelt attended a CPS meeting to discuss the Education Facilities Master Plan. She made remarks, including anapparent response to a statement from Dwayne Truss, of Raise Your Hand. Earlier in the meeting he said that Blackelected officials were not representing the interests of their constituencies on school closings. She said that the issue wasnot that Black elected officials are not listening to their constituencies, but that Downstate legislators don't care aboutwhat goes on in Chicago. To the best of my knowledge, State Senator Van Pelt has not publicly expressed an opinionregarding an elected school board in Chicago. She did not attend Representative La Shawn Ford's public meeting on an

elected school board.

State Representative Arthur Turner

I (Valerie Leonard) had an opportunity to meet with Representative Arthur Turner, Carol Johnson, Alex Lyons, DwayneTruss to discuss issues of the elected school board, and to express a need to support neighborhood schools.Representative Turner was receptive to the idea of supporting Representative La Shawn Ford's proposed legislation tocreate a committee to study the pros and cons of an elected school board in Chicago. He seemed to support the idea ofexpanding the number of charter schools. He also seemed supportive of closing some schools.When we pulled together a coalition of elected officials, community members and heads of local organizations to pulltogether an alternative plan to school closings, Representative Turner was missing in action. A member of his staffpromised that either the Representative or she would participate in meetings to develop the alternative plan. No one from

his office showed up to any of the meetings or to a press conference we had to unveil the plan. Representative Turner didco-sign onto a bill for a moratorium on school closings beginning in 2014. That bill was dead on arrival, as it did not havethe support of Speaker Mike Madigan. It should be noted that the State Legislature--and not our Aldermen, have theauthority to write legislation impacting education--including school funding, elected school boards, school closings, etc.Representative Turner did not attend Representative Ford's public meeting on an elected school board.

Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele

Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele will be the first to say that the County does not control CPS. However, he isvery interested in education issues. He participated on a committee of elected officials, local residents and heads ofcommunity based organizations to develop an alternative plan to school closures. He attended public meetings sponsoredby community groups and CPS; participated in press conferences on the matter of school closings and made public

statements to support our schools remaining open. He also attended a public meeting on the elected school board issuesponsored by Representative LaShawn Ford.

Alderman Michael D. Chandler

Alderman Michael D. Chandler is a member of the City Council Committee on Human Rights. He did not attend a publichearing sponsored by that Committee to decide whether or not 10 aldermen wanting to put the elected school boardreferendum on the ballot in their wards. Generally speaking, Alderman Chandler attended public meetings and hearings todefend the schools and participated in press conferences to save local schools. He did not sign onto a recent resolutionadvanced by the Progressive Caucus to put a referendum on the ballot citywide asking voters if they want an electedschool board. He did not attend Representative La Shawn Ford's meeting on an elected school board.

CPS

Our experiences with CPS have been negative, as they relate to the elected school board and school closingsissues. They turned down State Representative La Shawn Ford's invitation to participate in a town hall meetingon an elected school board. They refused to attend the Committee to Save North Lawndale School's invitationto a press conference unveiling our alternative plan to school closings. We requested a meeting with the CPSBoard of Education, President Vitale and CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett to discuss the alternative plan and got noresponse. CPS appointed a committee to determine what to do with the closed school buildings and no AfricanAmerican from the West Side was selected to be a part of the committee. As a member of the North LawndaleCommunity Advisory Committee I have requested financial information so that we may be better advocates,


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and we have yet to receive the information. I have also requested information on the impact of school closingsto be shared with the CAC. Again, we have not received the information. The suggestion was made in our lastmeeting to have the Area Chief provide a state of the schools in North Lawndale. The meeting is scheduled forOctober 15.

Other News

CPS School-By-School Performance Levels Released For School Year 2013-2014 (Doesn't include closedschools)

http://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_27_2013.aspx

CPS to Release 10-Year Educational Facilities Master Planhttp://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_24_2013.aspx

Lawndale Alliance Comments on the 10 Year Educational Facilities Plan

http://lawndalealliance.blogspot.com/

CPS Continues Their Fuzzy Math

http://cps299.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/cps-continues-their-fuzzy-math/

CPS Won't Slash School Budgets Again Based on Enrollmenthttp://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollment

Survey: CPS budget cuts force larger class sizes, eliminate fine arts from neighborhood schools

http://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/

November 16 'Neighborhood schools fair' hopes to unite Chicago's community-based public schools and

show parents and children that the nearest school is not 'bad' just because it isn't a 'magnet', 'STEM'thingy, or charterhttp://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4519&section=Article

BOARDWATCH: Report on the September 25, 2013 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education...

Facilities plan generates most comment, but Board's inconsistencies are exposed again

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4515&section=Article

AUSL Turnarounds Called Ineffective, Expensivehttp://www.newstips.org/2013/05/ausl-turnarounds-called-ineffective-expensive/

September 30, 2013

Volume 1, Issue 1

School Daze

[email protected] 5
http://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_27_2013.aspxhttp://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_27_2013.aspxhttp://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_24_2013.aspxhttp://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_24_2013.aspxhttp://lawndalealliance.blogspot.com/http://lawndalealliance.blogspot.com/http://cps299.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/cps-continues-their-fuzzy-math/http://cps299.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/cps-continues-their-fuzzy-math/http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollmenthttp://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollmenthttp://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollmenthttp://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/http://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/http://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4519&section=Articlehttp://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4519&section=Articlehttp://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4515&section=Articlehttp://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4515&section=Articlehttp://www.newstips.org/2013/05/ausl-turnarounds-called-ineffective-expensive/http://www.newstips.org/2013/05/ausl-turnarounds-called-ineffective-expensive/http://www.newstips.org/2013/05/ausl-turnarounds-called-ineffective-expensive/http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4515&section=Articlehttp://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4519&section=Articlehttp://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/http://commonsensecps.com/news/survey-cps-budget-cuts-force-larger-class-sizes-eliminate-fine-arts-from-neighborhood-schools/http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollmenthttp://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130923/lakeview/cps-wont-slash-school-budgets-again-this-year-based-on-enrollmenthttp://cps299.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/cps-continues-their-fuzzy-math/http://lawndalealliance.blogspot.com/http://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_24_2013.aspxhttp://cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/PR1_09_27_2013.aspx

school daze september 30, 2013

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