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Friday, October 12, 2012

CEO Brizard is out after 17 months!

Former CPS CEO Brizard
I wonder what happened. Was he pressured out? I'm sure talking heads and others are speculating right now.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is leaving the job "by mutual agreement" with City Hall, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Mr. Brizard has already been replaced: Barbara Byrd-Bennett, former chief of the Cleveland school system, who has been serving as the Chicago Public Schools interim chief education officer for past six months, will take the $250,000-a-year job. "It was a mutual decision by the mayor and Jean-Claude," said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Mr. Brizard is just coming off a bruising battle with the Chicago Teachers Union, whose members walked out in the first strike in Chicago in a quarter-century. The seven-day strike ended Sept. 19.

Mr. Emanuel told the Sun-Times Thursday that questions about Mr. Brizard had become a "distraction . . . We had a mutual agreement (that the distraction was) not helpful."

A City Hall source tells the Sun-Times, "It just didn't work out. Both felt it was not the right fit. It needed to end.”


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

NBC Chicago: CPS Outlines Plan to Pay for New Teacher Contract

Courtesy of Education Nation:
The plan released on Friday doesn't include classroom cuts. Instead, savings and revenue identified to fund the first year of the contract, according to the district, include:
  • Operations: Reduce lunchroom costs and general fund subsidy ($11 million); Achieve additional procurement savings ($10 million) 
  • Administration: Delay or cancel filling vacant, non-teaching positions ($8 million); Additional administrative reductions, targeting savings from printer consolidation, limiting equipment purchases, subscriptions and professional memberships ($4 million)
  • Financial: Capitalize interest on FY12 bond sale ($13 million); Sell surplus properties ($15 million); Debt restructuring ($42 million).
The contract includes a new evaluation system and an agreement that some teachers can keep their jobs if schools close. It also includes an agreement on implementing a longer school day.
Salary increases amount to $103 million of the first year of the contract.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Did you know...

That a neighborhood near where Bennett School is located is an historic area?

[VIDEO] Our local ABC affiliate dropped by recently to do a story about a Pullman neighborhood house tour. Pullman is bounded from 103rd to 115th and Cottage Grove to Langley. It was home to a planned city that was home to workers of a factory that built luxury railroad cars. Here's more information on the tour and a link to find out more about Pullman.
This year's historic Pullman House Tour, the 39th, takes place October 13 and14, and costs $20 for adults, $17 for seniors.

When the first house tour took place in 1974, admission was $3.

For more information: http://www.pullmanil.org/housetour.htm
Ya know I wonder if there are still history fairs. When I was still in school some students participated, never did myself although this could be a good project. Of course it should be great for young people now because everything is digital with digital cameras and all that!

ALSO check out the image below from The Chicago Neighborhoods a logo for Pullman and here's a link to a brief description.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Education Nation: How Will Chicago Pay For Strike Deal?

From the Education Nation section of our local NBC affiliate:
How much will the new contract cost? Pay raises and hiring nearly 500 new teachers to implement the longer school day has a higher price tag -- as high as $295 million -- that some say could lead to higher property taxes.

The mayor, though, avoided specifics.

"We have other tough things to do," he told reporters. "I never denied that we did have tough things to do, but I can't sit here and say within the first five minutes of this contract being negotiated, that I could tell you exactly what's going to happen four or five months from now."

Chicago Public Schools said "all options are on the table" to make up for new money being spent. Teachers won a 3 percent raise in the first year followed by 2 percent raises in years two and three. The 2015 board must let the union know if it has the money for a fourth year 4 percent raise.

Teachers lost sick day payouts, severance adjustments and reduced layoff benefits. Ten holidays were reduced to eight.

Without pension relief, CPS could be looking at a deficit of up to $1 billion.

Emanuel reportedly is considering increases to the city's 68-cent-a-pack cigarette tax and the 9 percent amusement tax as a way to make up for the budget shortfall. His office has maintained he is not considering property tax hikes.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

School started back today now to make up those last 7 school days

Scene outside of Harlan last Friday
School started back today after the strike that occurred the last seven school days from last Monday to this past Tuesday. Now to make up those missed days of school back!
CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said both sides have agreed to restore the days of class lost to the strike, but they have yet to agree on when.

No ideas of whether to add them to the end of the school year or to a vacation break have been discussed, she said.

“We haven’t agreed when, but the agreement is to restore them,” Carroll said.
I hope they resolve that soon!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Greater Chatham Alliance announcment: Free Dental Screenings

Here are some brief details about this event but refer to the flyer below
    • The Chicago Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, Traveling Dental Bus is coming to Chatham: 
      September 1, 2012
      10 am - Noon
      8245 S. King Drive
      For school age children: 5-12
      Each child will receive a take home oral health bag with educational handouts and fun tips.

      Tuesday, August 14, 2012

      What our schools need? A few good men...

      I couldn't agree more! As I saw in another 60 Minutes story years ago, "where are the men?". Some statistics:
      Despite some inroads by men, teaching remains a female-dominated profession. This is especially true for younger children. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 2% of pre-K and kindergarten teachers and 18% of elementary and middle-school teachers are men.

      The situation is more balanced, but not evenly balanced, in secondary school, where 42% of teachers are men.
      There are three points to be made here, but I think the third one is key:
      Third, we especially need black male teachers in the classroom. As Education Secretary Arne Duncan has argued, "All of our students benefit from having a black male in the classroom. But particularly our young black males." Yet black males represent a mere 2% of the K-12 teaching workforce. If this were to change, we might begin to see better educational outcomes and life outcomes for young black males.
      That point is very important. Young Black males are struggling and they get into the most trouble. If only they saw someone who looked like them in the classroom and helping to build them up!

      Read the rest!

      Via Instapundit.

      ALSO, go back and read this post. One place among many to start recruiting Black male teachers.

      Tuesday, August 7, 2012

      ICE Theaters Community Day...

      Coming later this month at their locations in Chatham and Lawndale. ICE Theaters is holding this free family festival in conjunction with Black Pages International that features education, health & wellness, fitness, financial, business & economic development, and community empowerment resources, along with workshops, entertainment and $1 movies. Check out the flyer above for more information on this event.

      Don't forget about ICE Theaters Kids RULE Summer that continues this month. The last scheduled movie is Dr. Seuss' The Lorax!

      There are two albums at Concerned Citizen's of Chatham FB page that show scenes from the first two previous Community Day at ICE Theater's Chatham location.


      Wednesday, August 1, 2012

      "The Curators of Dixon School"

      Information on this short feature film had in fact been posted to the FB page for the The Sixth Ward blog. Basically it's about how administrators at a neighborhood public elementary school had a specific vision of how their school should look on the inside of their walls. More info below provided by the Art Institute's Gene Siskel Film Center as part of their 18th Annual Black Harvest Film Festival.
      THE CURATORS OF DIXON SCHOOL
      2011, Pamela Sherrod Anderson, USA, 80 min.

      Public schools don’t have to be a minefield of metal detectors, minimal expectations, and mind-numbing routine. An alternative exists right here in Chicago, at the Dixon Elementary Public School in the Chatham neighborhood, where former principal Joan Crisler and her successor Sharon Dale have implemented the idea that art should be an integral part of the learning environment, with museum-quality works openly adorning the halls. The results, in terms of student performance and morale, have been spectacular, but, as this inspiring but pragmatic documentary demonstrates, there are no miracle solutions: Crisler’s protégé Carol Briggs has an uphill battle applying the same approach at another school, and recent budget cuts have left even the most successful programs vulnerable to the axe. HDCAM video. (MR) FF

      Director Pamela Sherrod Anderson will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.

      EDIT: Forgot to note that the screenings for this film will take place on August 12th at 3 PM and August 16th at 6 PM at the Siskel Film Center located at 164 N. State Street. Click this link for info on how to get there!