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Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

Monday, September 11, 2023

Rich Miller: Davis Gates’ explanation doesn’t hold up

From Rich Miller's syndicated column posted to the Capitol Fax blog this morning. It's regarding the controversy that she was sending her son to a private school as opposed to her sending him to a public school.
If Davis Gates had simply defended her family’s decision by saying something like her son really had his heart set on going to that school, then I don’t think anyone could really disagree with her choice.

Instead, the union president initially stonewalled when faced with questions and then offered up an explanation to a local public radio station which threw the South and West sides under the bus and, more importantly, just wasn’t true.

Davis Gates said basically three things last week to a WBEZ reporter: 1) Course offerings for high schools on the South Side and West Side “are very marginal and limited”; 2) Selective enrollment and magnet public high schools were just too far away and would’ve forced her son to, according to the article, “spend hours traveling”; 3) A public high school with a good soccer program (a sport played by her son) and strong extracurriculars are just not available close by, or are in Latino neighborhoods that were too far away.

Look, there’s no doubt whatsoever that problems exist in public schools on the South and West sides. But that doesn’t mean the areas are completely bereft, no matter what internet trolls scream online.

Just as a small sampling, Davis Gates lives only three miles from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, a high quality selective enrollment high school which has a soccer team and extracurricular activities.

Lindblom Math and Science Academy in the West Englewood neighborhood has a pretty darned good soccer team and is 6 miles from the union president’s home.

The Catholic school her son is attending, on the other hand, is almost 9 miles from Davis Gates’ home.

Not to mention the area’s charter schools, which are taxpayer-funded and privately operated.
She hadn't deleted this tweet yet in case she does it's screencapped.

Saturday, September 2, 2023

Silas Purnell College Expo - Sat. Sept. 16, 2023

The Chicago Football Classic game between Central State University & Mississippi Valley State University is today along with a HBCU college fair to take place at Soldier Field at 12 Noon. However, here's another local college fair operated by a local community association which was blasted out by state Representative Nicholas Smith.

  • Chesterfield Community Council Presents
  • The 17th Annual Silas Purnell College Expo
    Saturday, September 16, 2023
    11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
    Chicago State University
    Jones Convocation Center
    9501 S. King Drive
    Chicago, ILL
  • College, university, & trade school representatives
  • Seminars
    • Scholarships
    • HBCU Life
    • Apprenticeships
Refer to flyer below

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Back to school giveaway #Ward09

  •  Back to school giveaway
  • Saturday, August 19, 2023
    10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
    0005th District Police Station
    727 E. 111th Street
    Chicago, IL 60628
    While supplies last
    Parent must be present to receive supplies

    Refer to flyer below

Saturday, May 6, 2023

District maps for an ELECTED Chicago School Board.

Board of Education
 

I saw a communication about this months ago via State Sen. Elgie Sims.

Both the State House and State Senate has released maps for the public with regards to the elected Chicago Board of Education. h/t CapFax

Here's the map from the Illinois Senate so that you can see where your home will sit as far as who you might vote for in the future. There's a link the Illinois House of Representatives site however as I click through it seems the House is only linking to the Senate's map.

The school board districts must be drawn by July 1, 2023. According to the redistricting site of the Illinois Senate

In 2021, the Senate and House passed House Bill 2908, which creates a fully elected school board for Chicago Public Schools that will be in effect as of January 15, 2027.

Starting January 15, 2025, a two-year hybrid period begins, with 10 members being elected to four-year terms, 10 members being appointed by the mayor to two-year terms, and the board president being appointed by the mayor for a two-year term.

Starting January 15, 2027, when the mayor-appointed terms expire, the 10 members and the elected at-large member will be elected to four-year terms.

The General Assembly must comply to the July 1, 2023 deadline to draw Chicago school board districts, which must be consistent with the Illinois Voting Rights Act.

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Public Affairs: Mayoral candidates ignore issues crushing Chicago #ChicagoElections

 

[VIDEO] If you follow us on instagram (@thesixthward) you might see stores from Wirepoints.org whom you see it's President Ted Dabrowski discuss some of the issues that affects Chicagoans with Public Affairs host Jeff Berkowitz. I'd say let's open the door to you, what issues do you think Mayoral Candidates in the city need to address?

They do discuss crime and a lot of the data Wirepoints does address is the issue of crime. I'd say economic issues are a factor though there is only so much a city can do about the national economic environment. Another issue is certainly insuring our young people are adequately educated and they do mention the power of the teachers union over public education in the city.

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Harlan baseball is back!

Found this in a fb group Harlan's Alumni with this caption:
Support Falcons Nation Support JR Kennon we need to get on board with fellow Harlan Alumni c/o 97 J.R * 4yr Varsity starter City Champions as a player and coach All state and All City members as a Senior And Welcome JR as New Head Coach at Harlan High School
Contact info provided in the graphic below.


 

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Newsalert: Why does CPS have 160 high schools?

 

Now it makes me wonder about the future of Harlan. The last time I saw enrollment numbers years ago they weren't too far above 300 students at that point. Here's what Newsalert blog states:

The mass exodus out of Chicago's government schools is making news. How can a school district with only 327,000 students ( many who aren't of high school age ) have 160 high schools !

A link in that quote is to another post which further discusses the enrollment decline of CPS schools. 

Looking up Harlan's stats at the CPS website they list current enrollment at 295 students. I don't know if that's for this year or last year.

Saturday, January 23, 2021

CPS: All instruction could be halted if teacher's don't return to work

 For those of you concerned about the back and forth between the city and the teacher's union. The union doesn't want teachers to go back to in-person instruction at the schools. If CPS teachers don't return to school all instruction including virtual instruction could come to a halt.

From the Sun-Times

If Chicago teachers collectively refuse to return to their schools on Monday in defiance of Chicago Public Schools’ reopening orders, the district will consider the labor action a strike, schools chief Janice Jackson reiterated Friday, suggesting the outcome could be all classes coming to a halt.

The 25,000 rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Union are voting through Saturday night on a resolution to continue working from home next week because of health concerns tied to in-person work.

CPS officials have said working from home is no longer an option for about 10,000 educators who have been told to report in person, nor for the 3,800 who have been ordered to schools since early January.

The union has repeatedly argued its action Monday would not be a work stoppage since teachers plan to continue working remotely. The CTU’s pending resolution instead says a strike would start if CPS “retaliates” by locking out all its teachers from remote work as it has done with about 90 pre-Kindergarten and special education staff members who were supposed to report to their schools earlier this month but haven’t shown up.

Friday, December 18, 2020

College Fix: Chicago Teachers Union demands public schools stay closed as Catholic schools in city have safely remained open

The College Fix 

The Chicago Teachers Union recently asked a judge to issue an injunction ordering Chicago Public Schools to remain closed to in-person learning for the spring semester. It comes as the city public school system plans to return K-8 students in January and February, according to its reopening plans.

Catholic schools in the city and surrounding area have been open for a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning for a full semester now, with minimal problems. As private entities, Catholic schools have been allowed to stay open under health guidelines, while public schools have been fully remote for the fall semester.

I wonder how many of you are ready to send your children back to school soon.

h/t Newsalert 


Thursday, August 27, 2020

Wednesday's Board of Ed. vote on police in schools

Chicago Tribune:
The Chicago Board of Education will enter into another yearlong contract with the Chicago Police Department, this time not to exceed $12.1 million.

In the meantime, the board gave Chicago Public Schools seven months to come up with a comprehensive plan to help schools develop alternative school safety strategies.

As students continued to protest the use of school police outside CPS’s Loop headquarters Wednesday, the board voted 4-2 to approve the contract that will pay for officers to be stationed in more than 50 high schools when they reopen. Elizabeth Todd-Breland and Amy Rome voted no, while Board President Miguel del Valle, Vice President Sendhil Revuluri and members Dwayne Truss and Lucino Sotelo all voted in favor. Luisiana Melendez abstained.

As soon as the votes were in, some of the protesters began chanting the names of the members who favored the contract, cursing them along with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Police Department. Youth leaders put out calls for more supporters of police-free schools to show up to CPS headquarters, saying the school board had ignored their voices for too long.
And after reading the rest of this article, probably still a long way from a resolution of this issue. Those who want police out of schools want them out now, they don't want the schools to plan alternate strategies. 

Friday, June 19, 2020

Mr. Beat presents Illinois & Indiana compared

[VIDEO] As I type this the above compared video of both Illinois and Indiana is set for premiere by the edutuber Mr. Beat. This should be fascinating and I'd say in some respects Illinois and Indiana are two roughly evenly matched states even if one state is more important than the other.

Do you think Mr. Beat is correct in his comparisons.

Monday, January 20, 2020

How an Award-Winning Teacher Turned Principal Transformed Bennett Elementary

I like to see news about Bennett Elementary out there and especially if it's good news. This time about the current principal of Bennett School from March 2019:
Today Principal Teresa Huggins takes pride in her successful turnaround of Roseland’s Bennett Elementary. Since she took the helm in 2013, Bennett has transformed from a school on probation to a school at the top of the district’s accountability ratings. It’s one of 22 neighborhood elementary schools on the South and West sides of Chicago where students are showing high growth on the NWEA MAP test.
...
Huggins’ role in Bennett’s turnaround sounds similar to successful turnaround stories I’ve heard from other principals over the years. When she arrived, she made a point of observing without trying to make big changes right away. “When you come in and try changing everything at once, you rub people the wrong way,” she observed. But once she had the lay of the land, she was unafraid to push for improvement. She insisted on basics like grade-level meetings, teachers showing up on time and taking a hard look at what test score data said about how well students were learning. To increase student engagement, she coupled a behavior reward system with a requirement that teachers schedule quarterly field trips to give students wider experiences beyond the classroom.

To no one’s surprise, teachers pushed back. When Huggins put up data charts by classroom and named the teachers, she received emails complaining, “You cannot call us out.” She emailed the entire staff, reminding them that since they work for the public they must answer to the public. “I didn’t get any more complaints after that,” she said.

Teachers started bringing student work to grade level meetings. Huggins encouraged them to ask themselves questions straight from the National Board playbook: What is the student’s level of understanding? How do you know? What are your next steps as a teacher? Huggins also worked to improve teaching and learning for the 15 percent of Bennett’s students in special education, pushing for greater inclusion and revising IEPs. In her second year as principal, their growth led all the schools in Bennett’s network.

When teachers stepped up their game, Bennett rewarded their efforts with special events, like dinner at a restaurant for the entire faculty on her during staff appreciation week. These days, teachers have built a stronger culture, with a social committee that celebrates birthdays and more teachers staying late after school to plan and prepare. “Sometimes I have to put them out,” she joked.
If I may offer some commentary, elementary school I think is too soon for students to think about being college bound....

Thursday, January 16, 2020

CapFax: More of this, please

More of what? Well a solution to a special education teacher shortage. Perhaps in general a teacher's shortage in this state whether in rural, suburban, or even urban areas like Chicago. Via Rich Miller.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Springfield's response to the Chicago teacher's strike #twill

It's interesting to not only see some news about negotiation, especially about trying to negotiation issues that don't belong in a collective bargaining contract. However, the all powerful speaker of the state house of representatives is demonstrating that while he support CTU he won't attempt to advance any bills for them during this strike. Via Capitol Fax
BTW, I do have to add I had no idea the mayor opposes an elected school board. It was noted in the post linked above.

Meanwhile today marks 10 days out of school for CPS students.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

No CPS classes in 8 days

This was on the Capitol Fax blog yesterday, Rich Miller isn't buying whatever numbers the teacher's union has been using.
Meanwhile CPS has a struck a deal with SEIU over the weekend as they still continue negotiations with the teachers.

Also I've been using social media to keep up with the strike to the best of my ability. From CPS's FB page to the Chicago Teacher's Union ig in addition to CapFax. My apologies for not keeping up with any updates with regards to negotiations between CPS and CTU on this blog.

Today marks the 8th straight day of cancelled classes for CPS students and this is considered the longest strike since 1987.

My hope is that classes will resume for CPS students and soon! 

Friday, October 25, 2019

Chicago Teacher's strike updates

I haven't done a great job at keeping up with the strike so far on this blog. Classes have been cancelled all week for CPS students due to this impasse between the city and the teacher's union. Here are some items that might interest you from during the week via CapFax.


This first item from earlier this week involved the negotiations between the Mayor and the teachers. Funny thing about this is the notion that if you want to frustrate the process just bring more people to the table. Main thing is there is a real strategy to doing so if you know the other side has something to lose in this.
This other item is from yesterday which aside from any mention of civil disobedience training also notes that there is some progress in recent negotiations. Perhaps students will be able to return to class soon, although it appears that student athletes who hope to go the their respective playoffs might have lost that opportunity.
Also in noting the title of that last post, some state politicians and city alderman have sided with the teacher's union publicly. It is hardly of any surprise that this needs to be a consideration, especially if the mayor has something to lose if this strike drags on and could affect her objectives with the General Assembly in Springfield.

Finally here are a couple of Instagram posts shared on Thursday from CPS with regards to their teachers union offer.
This other post is a video

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Teacher's strike: Small number of Chicago voters oppose strike

I'm posting this now although this is a late 9:00 AM post because it's important. Rich Miller posted about a poll with regards to whether or not Chicagoans oppose a teacher's strike. Only 38% oppose a teacher's strike.
How does Lori Lightfoot as Mayor of Chicago settle this?

Thursday, October 10, 2019

WTTW: What’s Next in Lead-Up to a Chicago Teachers Strike?

Still some more news as we head to an October 17th deadline for a teacher's strike. This is a portion of what's next from Chicago Tonight:
The Chicago Teachers Union has set a strike date of Oct. 17, but the deadline for the city to come to a deal with the 25,000-member union may be sooner.

This year, the union’s 700-member House of Delegates – which represents teachers across the city – passed a resolution requiring CTU leadership to bring any tentative deals back to an emergency meeting of those delegates. Those members would then decide whether to call off a strike.

Theoretically, this means even if a contract deal is reached at the 11th hour, teachers could be on the picket lines Oct. 17, and remain there until delegates have reviewed the contract and decided whether to accept the city’s offer.

Sources in CTU say members were angered when, in 2016, union leadership called off a strike after reaching a deal right around the midnight deadline. Some teachers woke up and went to the classroom – instead of the picket line – without knowing the terms of the deal; others were angered at the content of the deal and the fact that CTU had called off the strike without their input.
Very interesting. I still hope there will be no strike.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Chicago teacher's strike date October 17th

From WBBM-AM:
Chicago Teachers Union leaders have set a strike date for Oct. 17, unless the CTU and Chicago Public Schools can agree on a new contract.

The news came Wednesday night. CTU President Jesse Sharkey said negotiations will continue with CPS and the Lightfoot administration.

Last week, a majority of union members authorized leaders to call a strike.
From Chicago Tribune:
The Chicago Teachers Union, school support staff and Park District workers will all go on strike together on Oct. 17 if they can’t reach contract deals by then.

The joint announcement late Wednesday by the three labor groups sets up the prospect of about 35,000 public employees in Chicago walking off the job at the same time.

It also means that the 360,000 children who attend Chicago Public Schools will be out of class indefinitely if CTU and the city fail to settle their differences by then.

But Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS top brass announced late Wednesday that all schools will remain open during any walkout by teachers and staff.
Here's hoping Oct. 17, 2019 goes by without a strike!