The purpose of this blog is to organize documentation of the hearings that the appointed Chicago Board of Education is holding to hear public response to the proposed closings, consolidations, phase-outs and turnarounds.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Holmes, Peabody 2.9 Mon.
The Holmes hearing was held at the Board of Ed. This second Peabody hearing was held at Lozano School, 1424 North Cleaver. Holmes is facing an AUSL managed Turnaround and Peabody is facing simple Closure.
Note: the Peabody hearing was held at Lozano School.
Tonight's hearing in the Lozano auditorium had over 150 in attendance. Over 35 people (parents, students and teachers) spoke in opposition to the proposed closing of the Peabody school (1444 W. Augusta). Most people had spoken at the previous hearing held at Board headquarters. The principal again presented the test scores for the school, which show that, with a 99% poverty rate, this schools scores went from 29.4% Meets and Exceeds on ISAT in 2001 to 69.8% Meets and Exceeds in 2008. Teachers highlighted the fact that Peabody is in two buildings, and how the school could be consolidated into the one building (higher space utilization--the ostensible reason for this school to be closed) and continue to be an excellent, successful small learning community.
This time the Peabody speakers were more angry, more defiant, more willing to call out the board for selling their school to the Northwestern Settlement Grammar School (1400 Augusta) and to real estate interests. By the way, they reported that Alderman William Burnett is on the Board of above-mentioned Northwestern Settlement Grammar School.
From the Northwestern Settlement Grammar School Website: Because there are no new charters available in Illinois, the Settlement will sub-contract with the nationally recognized Noble Network of Charter Schools, which was co-founded by the Settlement in 1999 and managed by it until 2007, to open its campus under the umbrella of Noble Street Charter School. While the Settlement will have complete autonomy in running the school, test scores will be incorporated into Noble Street’s State School Report Card. This website is interesting in how it promises to so highly educate poor and minority students. Is that really who will be attending?
Peabody teachers also talked more openly about gentrification and push-outs, mentioning that many of the 77 students who live out of the Peabody area were former students whose parents were pushed out of the neighborhood due to the rising rents, taxes and gentrification of the community. But the parents loved the school so much that they drove their children daily to and from Peabody.
I spoke on behalf of CORE and passed out fliers advertising Wednesday's regional meeting at Peabody. Rico Gutstein gave a great 2-minute on how the Board is cooking its space utilization figures by not taking out of their classroom calculations rooms for computer lab, special ed itinerant teachers, school partners, art, and gym. Teachers were grateful for CORE's and GEM's support.
No Carpenter teachers or community members spoke; Rodrigo of Pilsen Alliance said he did not see anyone from Carpenter there.
Anderson School, less than a mile northwest of Peabody, was again mentioned. The Anderson parents last year were promised a 7-year phase out and it appears that the phase-out of Anderson will be shortened to 2 years. I took a look at that stretch of Division and it is practically all yuppie all the time.
Holmes Hearing Prompts Board Investigation By Jim Vail Feb. 10, 2009 Substance News
Perhaps moved by the outpouring of powerful testimonies at Monday’s hearing, Chicago School Board President Rufus Williams visited the Oliver Wendell Holmes school the very next day, an unprecedented move by a Board member. “He came here and asked q uestions about our reading programs and I showed him the A.R. reports of our little student who testified at the hearing yesterday,” said Holmes teacher and librarian Laura Krejca. “Rufus said he remembered the girl who needed a chair to speak. He said he is also familiar with Accelerated Reader.” Williams also noticed a big sign hanging outside Krejca’s library that said, “Save Our School!” Williams told Krejca he liked the sign and was told by Holmes Principal Wendy Naughton that Congressman Jess Jackson, Jr. made a similar comment, Krejca said. The Holmes hearing on Monday was packed with many students, teachers, community members, Core and CTU union representatives who gave powerful testimonies to how great a school Holmes is and the disbelief that CPS would want to stop what is happening. “We have improved our test scores over 19% percentage points in the past three years,” said Angela Thomas, assistant principal at Holmes. “I am a proud Holmes product who was a student, then a teacher and now the assistant principal.” In fact, the testimonies from students who read powerful statements in support of their teachers, from parents who admonished the Board for daring to break up the Holmes family, from teachers who outlined the many programs they have for the students and even a legal challenge about whether the Board is properly following NCLB guidelines from a dean of students – impressed Hearing Officer Fred Bates so much, that he remarked: “I’m very impressed with what I heard today,” he said at the end of the hearing. “You clearly have made progress. You should not feel stigmatized, you should keep working hard.” Perhaps Bates, as well as the Board members – Rufus Williams and Roxane Ward who attended the hearing, felt the pressure to respond. Bates was again questioned about his claim to being an “independent” hearing officer which he vigorously defends when questioned at the hearings. “I’m nobody’s yes man,” he said at one point during the Holmes hearings. “I’m an independent officer. “ However, this writer asked him about the many hearings on reconstitutions and turnarounds Bate’s attended over the years, if he has ever made a ruling to stop such a decision by the Board. Bates could only look down and not comment. Chicago Teacher’s Union President Marilyn Stewart was asked to first speak at the hearing. Looking a bit tired, and not sounding as energetic as at previous hearings, she nonetheless questioned why AUSL has to come in and run a school without the teachers currently in place. “You’re saying the teachers can go to other schools, they just can’t work at Holmes,” Stewart said. “For a lot of the students, the school is the only stable thing for them.” She again questioned the cost of instituting a “Reconstitution” which involves firing and replacing the entire staff from teachers to custodial and cafeteria workers, clerks and security guards. Stewart noted that according to the New Teacher Project, it costs the Board $87,000 to hire a new teacher. She noted the turnaround model of Earl School in which they kept the faculty and the scores improved and it cost a lot less money. The next speaker was Principal Wendy Naughton – someone who has tried to discourage her staff from openly protesting the Board decision and instead work within the questionable legal parameters. She said it was unfair to make Holmes a Turnaround School because their scores have gone up two of the last three years and asked that the current staff be allowed to continue their work. Many students then spoke out in favor of their teachers who are all threatened with pink slips, several stating they should turn the Board around instead. “It’s a slap in your face,” said 8th grade student Kayla Johnson. “How would you like it if someone took your job. They need to support their families and pay the rent.” Several students noted Holmes is like one big happy family. One read a poem entitled, “Don’t turnaround our school!” Eric Gutstein, a Teachers for Social Justice co-founder and professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted the incredible disparity in funding the “model” turnaround Sherman School gets, yet still would qualify as a Turnaround again because it has likewise not made the Annual Yearly Progress NCLB demands the CPS uses to determine its annual school reconstitutions or closings. He also noted that 40% of the teachers left Sherman last year while every teacher remained at Holmes. And he admonished Bates for allowing the Board, yet not the community to make a Power Point presentation at the Hamilton hearing. Bates quickly defended himself saying time was the priority. Holmes 5/6 grade teacher Daisy Sharp asked again why everyone must be fired in the building if it’s only about test scores. According to a reporter from Medill News Service who asked a Board spokesman this question, CPS feels every adult in the building affects the children’s learning. Music teacher Laura Parr then said to just use a paper and pencil test is wrong when every educator knows that the multiple intelligences need to be assessed to determine truly what the child is learning. “Have the Board people come to our school and seen the children put on a play? have they seen our children sing in the choir and conduct science experiments?” A letter was read by Holmes teaching assistant Kimberly Simmons in which State Representative Esther Golar gave her support for the school, noting that the Board is in clear violation of NCLB by neglecting to notify the parents of the reconstitution evaluation. “I challenge this ruling and demand due process,” Ms. Simmons read. Several teachers also noted the dangerous environment the students must deal with when attending school. The school has implemented many programs for the students who live in Englewood, one of the most dangerous areas in the city in which 12,000 crimes were committed last year, according to Holmes teacher Megan Dolan. A Holmes 5th grade student was murdered in gang cross fire last year and some of the students are still receiving therapy. Jitu Brown, a community organizer with COCO on the southside, said CPS is ignoring the evidence that this process is flawed. He mentioned that the previous school closings led to a spike in violence at receiving schools, not to mention the children who are moved from closing school to closing school, falling further behind academically due to the abrupt changes in their academic lives. “There must be a moratorium on school closings,” Brown said. “The accountability must fall on CPS.” An interesting legal challenge was thrown up by Karl Hubert, the dean of students at Holmes and an attorney. Hubert said CPS has to perform certain duties to make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) and provide further assistance. “You say you’re not a yes man,” Hubert told the hearing officer Bates. ”So what we’re asking you is to make a reasonable and very considerate decision in this matter.” The next night AUSL held their own hearing on the Reconstitution of Holmes. Only four people showed up; not one of them a parent. The Holmes community decided to boycott the event meant for them.
Note: the Peabody hearing was held at Lozano School.
ReplyDeleteTonight's hearing in the Lozano auditorium had over 150 in attendance. Over 35 people (parents, students and teachers) spoke in opposition to the proposed closing of the Peabody school (1444 W. Augusta). Most people had spoken at the previous hearing held at Board headquarters. The principal again presented the test scores for the school, which show that, with a 99% poverty rate, this schools scores went from 29.4% Meets and Exceeds on ISAT in 2001 to 69.8% Meets and Exceeds in 2008. Teachers highlighted the fact that Peabody is in two buildings, and how the school could be consolidated into the one building (higher space utilization--the ostensible reason for this school to be closed) and continue to be an excellent, successful small learning community.
This time the Peabody speakers were more angry, more defiant, more willing to call out the board for selling their school to the Northwestern Settlement Grammar School (1400 Augusta) and to real estate interests. By the way, they reported that Alderman William Burnett is on the Board of above-mentioned Northwestern Settlement Grammar School.
From the Northwestern Settlement Grammar School Website:
Because there are no new charters available in Illinois, the Settlement will sub-contract with the nationally recognized Noble Network of Charter Schools, which was co-founded by the Settlement in 1999 and managed by it until 2007, to open its campus under the umbrella of Noble Street Charter School. While the Settlement will have complete autonomy in running the school, test scores will be incorporated into Noble Street’s State School Report Card.
This website is interesting in how it promises to so highly educate poor and minority students. Is that really who will be attending?
Peabody teachers also talked more openly about gentrification and push-outs, mentioning that many of the 77 students who live out of the Peabody area were former students whose parents were pushed out of the neighborhood due to the rising rents, taxes and gentrification of the community. But the parents loved the school so much that they drove their children daily to and from Peabody.
I spoke on behalf of CORE and passed out fliers advertising Wednesday's regional meeting at Peabody. Rico Gutstein gave a great 2-minute on how the Board is cooking its space utilization figures by not taking out of their classroom calculations rooms for computer lab, special ed itinerant teachers, school partners, art, and gym. Teachers were grateful for CORE's and GEM's support.
No Carpenter teachers or community members spoke; Rodrigo of Pilsen Alliance said he did not see anyone from Carpenter there.
Anderson School, less than a mile northwest of Peabody, was again mentioned. The Anderson parents last year were promised a 7-year phase out and it appears that the phase-out of Anderson will be shortened to 2 years. I took a look at that stretch of Division and it is practically all yuppie all the time.
Holmes Hearing Prompts Board Investigation
ReplyDeleteBy Jim Vail
Feb. 10, 2009
Substance News
Perhaps moved by the outpouring of powerful testimonies at Monday’s hearing, Chicago School Board President Rufus Williams visited the Oliver Wendell Holmes school the very next day, an unprecedented move by a Board member.
“He came here and asked q uestions about our reading programs and I showed him the A.R. reports of our little student who testified at the hearing yesterday,” said Holmes teacher and librarian Laura Krejca. “Rufus said he remembered the girl who needed a chair to speak. He said he is also familiar with Accelerated Reader.”
Williams also noticed a big sign hanging outside Krejca’s library that said, “Save Our School!” Williams told Krejca he liked the sign and was told by Holmes Principal Wendy Naughton that Congressman Jess Jackson, Jr. made a similar comment, Krejca said.
The Holmes hearing on Monday was packed with many students, teachers, community members, Core and CTU union representatives who gave powerful testimonies to how great a school Holmes is and the disbelief that CPS would want to stop what is happening.
“We have improved our test scores over 19% percentage points in the past three years,” said Angela Thomas, assistant principal at Holmes. “I am a proud Holmes product who was a student, then a teacher and now the assistant principal.”
In fact, the testimonies from students who read powerful statements in support of their teachers, from parents who admonished the Board for daring to break up the Holmes family, from teachers who outlined the many programs they have for the students and even a legal challenge about whether the Board is properly following NCLB guidelines from a dean of students – impressed Hearing Officer Fred Bates so much, that he remarked:
“I’m very impressed with what I heard today,” he said at the end of the hearing. “You clearly have made progress. You should not feel stigmatized, you should keep working hard.”
Perhaps Bates, as well as the Board members – Rufus Williams and Roxane Ward who attended the hearing, felt the pressure to respond. Bates was again questioned about his claim to being an “independent” hearing officer which he vigorously defends when questioned at the hearings. “I’m nobody’s yes man,” he said at one point during the Holmes hearings. “I’m an independent officer. “ However, this writer asked him about the many hearings on reconstitutions and turnarounds Bate’s attended over the years, if he has ever made a ruling to stop such a decision by the Board. Bates could only look down and not comment.
Chicago Teacher’s Union President Marilyn Stewart was asked to first speak at the hearing. Looking a bit tired, and not sounding as energetic as at previous hearings, she nonetheless questioned why AUSL has to come in and run a school without the teachers currently in place.
“You’re saying the teachers can go to other schools, they just can’t work at Holmes,” Stewart said. “For a lot of the students, the school is the only stable thing for them.”
She again questioned the cost of instituting a “Reconstitution” which involves firing and replacing the entire staff from teachers to custodial and cafeteria workers, clerks and security guards. Stewart noted that according to the New Teacher Project, it costs the Board $87,000 to hire a new teacher. She noted the turnaround model of Earl School in which they kept the faculty and the scores improved and it cost a lot less money.
The next speaker was Principal Wendy Naughton – someone who has tried to discourage her staff from openly protesting the Board decision and instead work within the questionable legal parameters. She said it was unfair to make Holmes a Turnaround School because their scores have gone up two of the last three years and asked that the current staff be allowed to continue their work.
Many students then spoke out in favor of their teachers who are all threatened with pink slips, several stating they should turn the Board around instead. “It’s a slap in your face,” said 8th grade student Kayla Johnson. “How would you like it if someone took your job. They need to support their families and pay the rent.”
Several students noted Holmes is like one big happy family. One read a poem entitled, “Don’t turnaround our school!”
Eric Gutstein, a Teachers for Social Justice co-founder and professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted the incredible disparity in funding the “model” turnaround Sherman School gets, yet still would qualify as a Turnaround again because it has likewise not made the Annual Yearly Progress NCLB demands the CPS uses to determine its annual school reconstitutions or closings. He also noted that 40% of the teachers left Sherman last year while every teacher remained at Holmes. And he admonished Bates for allowing the Board, yet not the community to make a Power Point presentation at the Hamilton hearing. Bates quickly defended himself saying time was the priority.
Holmes 5/6 grade teacher Daisy Sharp asked again why everyone must be fired in the building if it’s only about test scores. According to a reporter from Medill News Service who asked a Board spokesman this question, CPS feels every adult in the building affects the children’s learning. Music teacher Laura Parr then said to just use a paper and pencil test is wrong when every educator knows that the multiple intelligences need to be assessed to determine truly what the child is learning. “Have the Board people come to our school and seen the children put on a play? have they seen our children sing in the choir and conduct science experiments?”
A letter was read by Holmes teaching assistant Kimberly Simmons in which State Representative Esther Golar gave her support for the school, noting that the Board is in clear violation of NCLB by neglecting to notify the parents of the reconstitution evaluation. “I challenge this ruling and demand due process,” Ms. Simmons read.
Several teachers also noted the dangerous environment the students must deal with when attending school. The school has implemented many programs for the students who live in Englewood, one of the most dangerous areas in the city in which 12,000 crimes were committed last year, according to Holmes teacher Megan Dolan. A Holmes 5th grade student was murdered in gang cross fire last year and some of the students are still receiving therapy.
Jitu Brown, a community organizer with COCO on the southside, said CPS is ignoring the evidence that this process is flawed. He mentioned that the previous school closings led to a spike in violence at receiving schools, not to mention the children who are moved from closing school to closing school, falling further behind academically due to the abrupt changes in their academic lives.
“There must be a moratorium on school closings,” Brown said. “The accountability must fall on CPS.”
An interesting legal challenge was thrown up by Karl Hubert, the dean of students at Holmes and an attorney. Hubert said CPS has to perform certain duties to make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) and provide further assistance. “You say you’re not a yes man,” Hubert told the hearing officer Bates. ”So what we’re asking you is to make a reasonable and very considerate decision in this matter.”
The next night AUSL held their own hearing on the Reconstitution of Holmes. Only four people showed up; not one of them a parent. The Holmes community decided to boycott the event meant for them.