Yorkshire RAMS

The Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) plan to close 54 schools, consolidate 11 and turnaround another six in June is unprecedented. The Chicago Board of Education votes tomorrow on whether or not to OK CPS’ school action plan. 

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Currently school districts often are unaware of the number of students they have who are in foster care. These children, who are typically put in foster care because they have been abused or neglected, often are shuffled from home to home, changing schools and even school districts. Their academic achievement is lower than that of their low-income peers. Nationally, less than half of foster students graduate from high school.

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Preckwinkle, meanwhile, took a broad swipe last week at the mayor’s education agenda. She said 13 of the 54 schools marked for closure should stay open, and she said last year’s teachers’ strike provided an excuse for the school closures.

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Over 25 years as an elementary school principal my relationships with parents were good.  I was available, I listened, and when complaints or suggestions were reasonable, I acted.  But there was one area where I stubbornly held the line against the wishes of parents and that was the placement of students.  I made clear early on that I would not honor requests for children to be placed with a particular teacher, nor would I would I form ability-based classrooms.  My position was not a matter of showing who was “boss,” but of my unshakable conviction that mixed ability classrooms are the best places for children to learn and live.

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Race to the Top is the multi-billion-dollar program in which federal dollars were awarded to states and school districts that promised to make the reforms that Obama’s Education Department wanted. In a desperate attempt to win dollars during a time of shrinking resources, states changed their laws to try to get the money, not necessarily because they thought what they were doing was the right thing. Some won the cash and some didn’t.

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