Re: another Chicago hero

[Csubstance@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/6/06 9:14:19 AM, monty@fairtest.org writes:

<< Why reply to Art? Well, actually, it did occur to me that the children 
turned away have to go somewhere... but Marty's refusal highlights how CPS fails 
to provide so many children with adequate learning opportunities (and Illinois 
deserves its share of blame for being probably the most unequal state in the 
nation in terms of funding)- but finds money for privatization, "Renaissance 
2010," brain-dead "benchmark" tests and grade retention.  >>

September 6, 2006

By early next week, I should have the September issue of Substance mailed. 
The lead story will be about Gage Park High School and all of the adjacent 
schools, in context.

The schools that turn away Chicago public school students are the charter 
schools, small schools, and "college prep" magnet high schools -- all funded by 
the Chicago Board of Education -- which are allowed to set caps and quotas, and 
then force students to go to the city's remaining "general" high schools. 
Today, Chicago has two dozen public high schools that have begun classes and can 
turn away students, while more than 40 public high schools are being forced to 
take in students who arrive at any time. The people who are turning away 
students from public high schools in Chicago are not those who are trying to 
reduce the insanity of overcrowding, but those who -- with the blessings of Mayor 
Daley, the Chicago Board of Education, and the media cheerleaders for corporate 
"school reform" -- get to perpeatuate a system that deprives the majority of 
high school students (most of them, black and Hispanic) of the same privileges 
that are bestowed on the few. As this school year evolves, it's possible that 
some of my colleagues in the media will begin to take a closer look at the 
egregious inequities visited on the majority so that the "boutiques" can cater 
to a minority. But I doubt it, since Chicago is still living in the bubble of 
its own fantasy claims about the glories of "school reform" since Mayor Daley 
took over the school system in 1995. 

There has been no miracle in Chicago. The current blow up over the 
overcrowding of the general high schools is simply lifting the lid on a decade of 
hypocrisy and lies.

As those who have followed Chicago's machinations know, the creation of what 
the Tribune is now calling "boutique" public schools (mostly charter schools, 
but also a handful of magnet high schools that require high standardized test 
scores for admission) has led to increasing demographic pressure and 
scapegoating of the remaining general public high schools. The way it works in simple. 
While a minority of the city's public high schools (charters, "small schools", 
academic magnet college prep schools) are allowed to set a maximum enrollment 
and enforce it (thereby, turning away thousands every year), the remainder of 
the city's schools continue to function as true public high schools, taking 
in everyone. 

By tomorrow, Gage Park High School, at 56th and Rockwell in Chicago, will 
have an enrollment of a little under 2,000 students, in a building which (old) 
Board of Education reports say has a "capacity" of 1250 students, and which the 
new (cram 'em in) demographics claim has a "design capacity" of 1,400. Either 
way, Gage Park (and a number of surrounding general high schools, as opposed 
to boutique schools) will be furiously overcrowded.

Meanwhile, less than one and a half miles east and south of Gage Park High 
School, the "new" Lindblom College Prep High School (at 61st and Wolcott) will 
be running with fewer than 600 students. The Lindblom building will also house 
the 120 9th graders from the "Urban Prep Charter Academy", a new all-boys high 
school that's being hyped (among others) as part of Mayor Daley's 
"Renaissance 2010" reforms. The Lindblom building, which was recently rehabbed at a cost 
of more than $30 million, will house fewer than 1,000 students, and both 
"schools" inside the Lindblom building will fit comfortably inside. Both are also 
allowed to refuse admission to students above their cap.

According to the old capacity data, Lindblom was always able to house more 
than 2,000 students.

The issue that Marty McGreal was confronting directly was the simple one 
discussed regularly here: how some entities are getting privilege, while others 
are deprived. The Board of Education did not discipline Tim King (CEO of "Urban 
Prep" charter school, which is presently being hyped in the Chicago media, 
although it has just opened) or Alan Mather (principal of Lindblom) for refusing 
to take in additional students. 

In fact, last Thursday, the Gage Park Local School Council asked that space 
be made available in the Lindblom building for the extra Gage Park students 
(some of whom live within easy walking distance of Lindblom). It is the Board of 
Education that is locking out the majority of students from boutique schools, 
thereby forcing the principals and teachers in the remaining schools to accept 
the remaining public school students. 

I don't read Art Burke's rantings, as everyone here knows. But if Art Burke 
said anything snotty or nasty about Marty McGreal's stand on behalf of the 
children of Gage Park, he's lucky he's not here in Chicago. 

The teachers, parents, and students of Gage Park all know they are being 
screwed, and they know who is doing it to them. While their school is being 
overcrowded deliberately by the policy of the Daley administration, other schools 
nearby, housing the privileged "schools" created under Mayor Daley's fantasy 
school programs, are wallowing in space. 

School is now heading into its third day here in Chicago, and while the Gage 
Park teachers and students are scrambling for desks and books, the children of 
the privileged (and media reported, such as "Urban Prep") have already begun 
their school year. The Board of Education will continue to pour extra kids 
into Gage Park, which is already bursting at the seams. It is the mayor and the 
principals of Urban Prep and Lindblom who should be disciplined for violating 
the ethics of public education. They are the ones who are establishing the 
boutique schools and then forcing the masses into what's left.

Marty McGreal deserves the praise he's receiving. As people here know, it's 
personal for me, too. I was fired by the Chicago Board of Education from my 
28-year teaching job six years ago (August 2000) for publishing the nonsensical 
Chicago CASE tests. A year later, Marty, then an English teacher at Curie High 
School, joined with others to refuse to administer the CASE tests, and instead 
of continuing the confrontation (and risking the public eventually reading 
those goofy tests), Arne Duncan abolished CASE. This was after CPS (under Paul 
Vallas and Arne Duncan) had wasted more than $10 million on the CASE program 
(production, materials, etc.) and untold hours forcing high school teachers and 
students to do CASE.

Chicago continues to be one of the worst examples in the nation of the evils 
of "standards and accountability", just as we've been saying here since before 
"No Child Left Behind" exported the horrors to everyone. The hypocrisy and 
mendacity that have led Chicago's version of corporate "school reform" continue. 
Once again, teachers, students and parents are resisting part of that stuff. 
What's unusual this year is that a principal has had the courage to help lead 
that resistance (and risk a six-figure job in the process). 

The sadness is that so many Chicago principals have surrendered their 
principles in order to keep those six-figure jobs. One of the conditions of their 
employment is that they look the other way when faced with the atrocities of 
Mayor Daley's school reform. Some are called upon to actively participate in the 
worst travesties. I could list here dozens who have told me, over the past six 
years, how much they respect and admire me for standing up to what they know 
to be wrong. But Marty McGreal is still alone in actually taking a public stand 
with his teachers, parents, and students against these educational 
malpractices and hypocrisies. What is sad today is that Clarice Berry (head of the 
Chicago Principals and Administrators Association) is not publicly supporting 
Marty, putting the weight of her organization behind him. Equally sad is that the 
Chicago Teachers Union, whose members picketed Gage Park last Thursday, has to 
date remained silent about this problem.

I understand that there is at least one person on this list who, in his usual 
ignorance of the facts and rabid biases, chooses to insult Marty McGreal. 
He's lucky he's not in Chicago this week. We'd take him out to Gage Park and, 
with the help of the parents whose children are being stuffed into the school and 
the teachers who were picketing there last week, kick his dumb ass. 

Count on that. 

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance