Archives for category: Emanuel, Rahm
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Chicago: The Measurable Result of Closing 50 Schools in One Day in 2013

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2018 //
37

Julie Vassilatos read the report of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research about the closing of 50 schools in one day in 2013. She knew that there was no academic gain for the children affected.

http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-public-fools/2018/05/in-the-wake-of-the-mass-school-closings-one-measurable-result/

But there was one measurable result that no one talked about: Sorrow.

“The sorrow of children whose schools were closed.

“It’s measurable. The researchers measured it. They liken the losses that the students–and teachers, staff, and families–experienced, to grief. The technical term for it is “institutional mourning.” Children and staff talked about losing their school “families,” spoke of the forced separations like a divorce, or a death. Generations-long relationships with schools ended abruptly after a pained, humiliating school year of battling to keep them open–schools that served as neighborhood anchors, social roots, home of beloved teachers. Most of the 50 shuttered schools have since stood empty and fallow after the closings, untended eyesores perpetually in the view of the kids who lived nearby, monuments to loss.

“Thousands of children who experienced this loss, all at once. And it’s long term–it did not go away in a week or a month or a year.

“Does it matter to anyone? Does it matter to the mayor? Would he say: but what is that to me?

“What is it to him? The wholesale destruction of 50 communities in predominantly poor and minority neighborhoods, for no measurable benefit, leaving the measurable sadness of thousands of children in its wake?

“We can only hope it’s the beginning of the end of mayoral control of CPS.”

Categories Accountability, Chicago, Closing schools, Disruption, Emanuel, Rahm

School Closings Hurt Children and Communities

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2018 //
8

 

No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top encouraged school Closings as a “reform,” but this turns out to be a destructive approach that hurts children and communities. 

Rahm Emanuel and his hand-picked board in Chicago closed nearly 50 public schools in one day in 2013. That’s a record. One for the history books. That’s the kind of thinking that views people and children as objects, unimportant lives, easily discarded.

The National Education Policy Center describes the strategy of closing schools as “high risk, low gain.”

BOULDER, CO (May 18, 2017) – Federal and state school accountability policies have used standardized test results to shine a spotlight on low-performing schools. A remedy offered to “turn around” low-performance in school districts is the option to close the doors of the low-performing schools and send students elsewhere.

School Closure as a Strategy to Remedy Low Performance, authored by Gail L. Sunderman of the University of Maryland, and Erin Coghlan and Rick Mintrop of the University of California, Berkeley, investigates whether closing schools and transferring students for the purpose of remedying low performance is an effective option for educational decision makers to pursue.

Closing schools in response to low student performance is based on the premise that by closing low-performing schools and sending students to better-performing ones, student achievement will improve. The higher-performing schools, it is reasoned, will give transfer students access to higher-quality peer and teacher networks, which in turn will have a beneficial effect on academic outcomes. Moreover, it is argued that the threat of closure may motivate low-performing schools (and their districts) to improve.

To investigate this logic of closing schools to improve student performance, the authors drew on relevant peer-reviewed research and well-designed policy reports to answer four questions:

  1. How often do school closings occur and for what reasons?
  2. What is the impact on students of closing schools for reasons of performance?
  3. What is the impact of closing schools on the public school system in which closure has taken place?
  4. What is the impact of school closures on students of various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and on local communities and neighborhoods?

Based on their analysis of the relevant available evidence the authors offer the following recommendations:

  • Even though school closures have dramatically increased, jurisdictions largely shun the option of “closure and transfer” in the context of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. Policy and district actors should treat the infrequency of this turnaround option as a caution.
  • School closures have at best weak and decidedly mixed benefits; at worst they have detrimental repercussions for students if districts do not ensure that seats at higher- performing schools are available for transfer students. In districts where such assignments are in short or uncertain supply, “closure and transfer” is a decidedly undesirable option.
  • School closures seem to be a challenge for transferred students in non-academic terms for at least one or two years. While school closures are not advisable for a school of any grade span, they are especially inadvisable for middle school students because of the shorter grade span of such schools.
  • The available evidence on the effects of school closings for their local system offers a cautionary note. There are costs associated with closing buildings and transferring teachers and students, which reduce the available resources for the remaining schools. Moreover, in cases where teachers are not rehired under closure-and-restart models, there may be broader implications for the diversity of the teaching workforce. Closing schools to consolidate district finances or because of declining enrollments may be inevitable at times, but closing solely for performance has unanticipated consequences that local and state decision makers should be aware of.
  • School closures are often accompanied by political conflict. Closures tend to differentially affect low-income communities and communities of color that are politically disempowered, and closures may work against the demand of local actors for more investment in their local institutions.

In conclusion, school closure as a strategy for remedying student achievement in low-performing schools is at best a high-risk/low-gain strategy that fails to hold promise with respect to either increasing student achievement or promoting the non-cognitive well-being of students. The strategy invites political conflict and incurs hidden costs for both districts and local communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color that are differentially affected by school closings. It stands to reason that in many, if not most, instances, students, parents, local communities, district and state policymakers may be better off investing in persistently low-performing schools rather than closing them.

Find School Closure as a Strategy to Remedy Low Performance, by Gail L. Sunderman, Erin Coghlan and Rick Mintrop, at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/closures

 

 

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Education Reform, Emanuel, Rahm, National Education Policy Center

Tamar Manessah: Save Chicago’s Schools—from Rahm Emanuel and Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 16, 2018 //
5

 

Community activist Tamar Manessah wrote an eloquent plea in the New York Times to save public schools in Chicago—from Rahm Emanuel and the charter industry. 

She writes:

”On Feb. 28, the Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on a disastrous proposal to close four public high schools with declining enrollment around the Englewood neighborhood of southwest Chicago. The affected children, who are overwhelmingly black and poor, would go to public schools out of the neighborhood or be encouraged to attend one of the charter schools being pushed by business and religious interests.

“The schools would close over three years, and in their place, the city plans to build an $85 million high school in Englewood. But the school won’t be up and running until September 2019 at the earliest — more than a full school year from now.

“Dwindling enrollment is a reality at these schools, but that’s partly because the city has not invested nearly enough in them. At the same time, Chicago has opened dozens of new schools, mostly charters, which draw students away from traditional public schools.

“Englewood, one of the poorest areas in the city, is plagued by high unemployment and gang activity. It’s where my organization, Mothers Against Senseless Killings, does its work. Our volunteers take care of the local kids during the summer, feeding them hamburgers for lunch and encouraging them to stay in school. And the neighborhood has made great strides — last year there was a significant drop in homicides and shooting.

“My greatest fear is that we will backslide. How we will be able to sustain these gains without a strong public school presence?“

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm

Chicago: High School Students and Parents Demonstrate Against School Closings at Private High School Attended by Rahm’s Children

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2018 //
18

 

A large group of students, parents, and activists demonstrated against the closing of their schools at the elite University of Chicago Lab School Where Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s are students. 

“On Wednesday, high school students, parents and education activists gathered near the University of Chicago Laboratory School, 5835 S. Kimbark Ave., to speak out against the proposed closings of their neighborhood elementary and high schools. The group staged a “tent city” outside of the Lab School, which is where Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s children attend school.

“We have stood up and demanded that the school’s in Englewood be fully funded just as schools in other neighborhoods,” said Erica Nanton, a community organizer, and Illinois co-chair for the Poor People’s Campaign. “We have been ignored, pushed aside and students have been silenced. “We come today on the grounds [in a] place where Mayor Rahm Emanuel does care.”

“The group consisted of parents and students and education advocates from the Grassroots Education Movement, Harper High School, Paul Robeson High School, Hope High School, National Teacher’s Academy, Hirsch High School Students, Hyde Park High School and the Journey for Justice Alliance.

“The group presented demands that they are asking the city and Chicago Board of Education to consider before shuttering their neighborhood elementary and high schools for good.

“What if we were your children [Mayor], Rahm Emanuel,” asked Mackenzie Turner, a freshman at Paul Robeson High School in Englewood. “None of our schools are just schools we are a family. We came together and bonded and built that school.”

“Jakil Benson, who is also a student at Robeson High School, echoed Turner’s thoughts.

“We don’t have art classes or music classes or things to help us find our gifts. We want to be doctors, lawyers, and musicians. We are being sabotaged by you, Rahm Emanuel,” Benson said. “We have low enrollment because you took our funds away these decisions affect our future. We still deserve a better education.”

“During the press conference, Lab students inside of the school cheered in support of the group.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm, Resistance

Chicago: Fight Back Against Rahm’s School Closings

By dianeravitch
January 4, 2018 //
16

Please tweet:

 

“2 Hours of Power”

Social Media Action Thursday, Jan. 4th

10am-12pm

#WeChoose
#RahmHatesUs

Overview; Rahm Emanuel seeks to close ALL of the high schools in the Englewood community. and a high performing neighborhood school in the south loop. ALL BLACK SCHOOLS. We have united our efforts and launching campaign targeting Rahm TOMORROW. WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT as we will start w/ direct action @ 10am CST tomorrow.

Target tweets at:
@cnnbrk
@cnn
@msnbc
@maddow
@Suntimes
@chicagotribune
@ChicagosMayor
@mharrisperry

WE NEED EMERGENCY MEMES!

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm

Chicago: Dramatic Decline in African-American Population As Black Families Depart for Other Segregated Districts

By dianeravitch
January 2, 2018 //
8

 

One thing that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s massive school closings did: They hastened the exodus of African American families from Chicago.

“Chicago was once a major destination for African-Americans during the Great Migration, but experts say today the city is pushing out poor black families. In less than two decades, Chicago lost one-quarter of its black population, or more than 250,000 people.

“In the past decade, Chicago’s public schools lost more than 52,000 black students. Now, the school district, which was majority black for half a century, is on pace to become majority Latino. Black neighborhoods like Austin have experienced some of the steepest student declines and most of the school closures and budget cuts.

“A common refrain is that Chicago’s black families are “reverse migrating” to Southern cities with greater opportunities, like Atlanta and Dallas. But many of the families fleeing the poorest pockets of Chicago venture no farther than the south suburbs or northwest Indiana. And their children end up in cash-strapped segregated schools like the ones they left behind, a Chicago Reporter investigation found.”

 

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm

Michelle Gunderson: Closing Public Schools in Chicago for Gentrification

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2017 //
17

Michelle Gunderson, veteran teacher in Chicago, explains here what Mayor Rahm Emanuel is doing to the city’s schools and the damage he is inflicting on communities of color:

On December 1, the Board of Education of the Chicago Public Schools announced its plan to shutter Harper, Hope, Robeson, and Team Englewood High Schools. All of these high schools are located in the predominantly African American Englewood neighborhood. With their planned closing there will be no neighborhood open enrollment public high schools left in this community of 30,000 people.

Schools are the cornerstones of neighborhoods, the place where a community comes together and relationships are built. Once a neighborhood school is closed it is like giving the community a black eye. The message is clear – this part of the city is not deserving of a public school and its children can be educated elsewhere.

You will hear about a beautiful, new high school planned for Englewood. While this sounds good, it does nothing for the current students of these Englewood high schools. NONE of the current high school students at Harper, Hope, Robeson, and Team Englewood will be allowed to attend. The school will start with a freshman class in 2019 and build a new class each year.

In the meantime, current students are set adrift and told to search out another school in an adjoining neighborhood. This brings up both academic questions and serious safety issues for these youth. In essence, Englewood students will be shipped to other schools, and the end of their high school careers sacrificed for a “fresh start” for the new school.

There is only one word for pushing African American children outside of their community in order to make room for a future student population – apartheid.

If CPS sincerely cares for the children of Englewood the current high schools would stay open until the new one was built and there would be a plan for integrating their students into the new school. To ‘start clean’ with only freshmen is to deny the value and humanity of the current youth in this neighborhood.

The narrative around the school closings is that the schools are under-enrolled and that they are not meeting the needs of the students. Janice Jackson, chief education officer of Chicago Public Schools said, “When I look at Englewood, at the experience some kids are getting, I can’t make the case they’re getting a good high school experience.” On this, she is right. The high schools in Englewood have been starved of the resources needed for high quality school programming for years. They have been intentionally run into the ground so that their closings would be inevitable.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has been fighting for fair funding of schools for many years. The union’s underlying analysis is that the Chicago Public Schools purposefully defunded schools, claimed them as failures, and then proceeded to close them. The city is in fact “broke on purpose” so that these neighborhoods can be taken over and gentrified. What are the values of our society when children’s lives are sacrificed to the real estate ‘gods of gentrification’?

There will be readers who ask, why would a city government plan the demise of the high schools in an entire section of town? The answer is clear – real estate. Englewood sits in prime territory just south of Chicago’s Loop and with ready access to expressways and transportation. This is a real estate grab.

Categories Accountability, Chicago, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm, Funding, Racism

Chicago: Claypool Resigns as CEO of Schools

By dianeravitch
December 11, 2017 //
11

Forrest Claypool, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, resigned following an ethics investigation critical of him. Rahm Emanuel applauded his performance, which was marked by cost-cutting. He will be succeeded by Janice Jackson, chief academic officer and a graduate of CPS.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/under-fire-forrest-claypool-resigns-as-chicago-schools-250000-ceo/

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Budget Cuts, Emanuel, Rahm

Chicago: Inspector General of Schools Says CEO “Repeatedly Lied” and Should Be Fired

By dianeravitch
December 7, 2017 //
5

The Inspector General of the Chicago Public Schools concluded an investigation of Forrest Claypool, chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, and recommended that Claypool had “repeatedly lied” to cover up ethical breaches and should be fired.

Dan Mihalopoulos and Lauren FitzPatrick report in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked schools chief “repeatedly lied” and engaged in other “elaborate cover-ups . . . designed to hide improper behavior” that he and the Chicago Public Schools top attorney engaged in, the CPS inspector general alleges in a report publicly released Thursday.

In a blistering, 13-page memo he sent Tuesday to the Chicago Board of Education, CPS Inspector General Nicholas Schuler said he was “left with no recourse but to conclude” that the board should fire CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.

“Claypool greatly compounded the severity of his misconduct when he repeatedly lied to the [inspector general’s office] through two separate interviews,” Schuler wrote.

Schuler said he launched his investigation last year, prompted by a Chicago Sun-Times article that “raised the question of whether” CPS general counsel Ronald Marmer — a longtime friend of Claypool — had violated the schools’ ethics code.

The Sun-Times first reported that CPS had hired Marmer’s old firm, Jenner & Block, to work for the schools even as the firm was paying Marmer a $1 million severance package. The ethics rules prohibit CPS employees from supervising the work of contractors with whom they have a business relationship.

Schuler said Claypool and Marmer ignored the advice of six lawyers who said Marmer was violating the ethics code and instead “searched for an exonerating opinion. They got a seventh, more favorable opinion from a lawyer who was a political supporter of Claypool.

“It is that approach that was fundamentally deceptive,” Schuler said.

He also alleged that Claypool “violated his fiduciary duty under the Code of Ethics to act in good faith” toward the school board, whose members were appointed by Emanuel.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the Chicago public schools, reaffirmed his support for his old friend Forrest Claypool. He said that there are two sides to every story, and he prefers Claypool’s version, not the Inspector General’s. In other words, he will instruct his hand-picked board to ignore the Inspector General’s report and recommendation.

This is yet another reason to oppose mayoral control of public schools. Too much cronyism and favoritism that should not withstand public scrutiny.

Categories Chicago, Corruption, Emanuel, Rahm, Ethics

Chicago: Public Schools Closed and Consolidated, While New Charters Open

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2017 //
17

Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues his crusade to push public schools out of Chicago.

In a wave of closings and consolidation, the mayor found room for a new charter school run by a megachurch and a hip hop artist. The mother of the hip hop artist serves on the zchicago Board of Education.

“Chicago Public Schools on Friday moved ahead with school closing and merger proposals that would affect thousands of kids next school year.

“Under a previously announced plan, four South Side schools would close over the summer and the district would send hundreds of displaced students to surrounding schools. One building would be demolished to make way for a new high school, and privately operated charter schools would take over two other sites, under the district’s plan.

“Students at two predominantly African-American elementary schools near downtown would merge with more diverse campuses. One of those buildings, in the growing South Loop area, would gradually convert into a new high school.

“In addition, Hirsch, one of the city’s lowest-enrolled high schools, would share space for a privately run charter school program that’s backed by a local megachurch and a foundation headed by hip-hop artist Common…

“Hirsch, one of the city’s most underenrolled neighborhood high schools, would open its campus to the Art In Motion charter school next fall. CPS said the charter program, which is backed in part by the New Life Covenant Church and Common Ground Foundation, would first open to seventh- and eighth-graders before expanding to include a high school program.

“Mahalia Hines, a member of the Chicago Board of Education and mother of the hip-hop performer Common, also serves on the board of her son’s foundation.”

Does Illinois have conflict of interest laws?

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Closing schools, Corporate Reform, Emanuel, Rahm, Ethics, Illinois, Privatization
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