Solving problems such as making schools safer and cutting the dropout rate will take input from those on the front lines in schools-parents, teachers and community activists. Here's what parents, a veteran teacher and a leader from one of the city's most vocal community groups told Catalyst Chicago about the direction CPS needs to take in the coming years. Extended versions can be found online at www.catalyst-chicago.org.
Vanessa Johnson
HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER
Johnson, who is involved with the High School Transformation Project at Carver Military Academy, says CPS needs to create good middle schools because freshmen aren't academically ready for high school and have never juggled multiple classes.
WHAT TEACHERS NEED
Time. You can't pull a rabbit out of a hat. You need time to sit down and hash out lesson plans or interdisciplinary projects.
WHAT KIDS NEED
If you've got a kid who can't read and he's 15, maybe coming to high school a year late, that kid is frustrated. Counselors are overworked and can't work with kids on a regular basis. My seniors ran around all year looking for their senior counselor, who was never in her office. [Kids need] support, not only from teachers but [auxiliary] staff. Also, we were supposed to have a computer lab open, with staff to monitor it, but it didn't happen. Kids need the administrative staff to look at the big picture and make sure things are in place for them. After all, that's what we're there for.
AFTER-SCHOOL ACCESS
We have photography, dance, computer classes. Unfortunately, there's no CTA stop in front of our building, so kids say, "I can't stay because I don't have a ride." I was talking to someone about programs on the North Side, and there's nothing on the far South Side that's equivalent. Our kids can't get to the North Side, especially if they only have $2 in their pocket. Programs [should] be in community centers kids can get to.
SCHOOL EQUITY
We're supposed to be a college prep school, but our AVID [college readiness] program is gone and we only have one Advanced Placement class. In schools like Whitney Young or Gwendolyn Brooks, practically every senior is taking an AP class. Shouldn't all these schools have pretty much the same programs?
WANTED: TRUANT OFFICERS
In my freshman classes, a couple of kids just dropped off the radar. Where are they going at 13, 14? You have kids, even in elementary school, who [disappear for] a whole week. We need truant officers.
THE NEXT CEO
[He or she] should be an educator who has had experience in the classroom and has been a principal. [They] should know what it's like from the bottom up.
Dorothy McGhee
HIGH SCHOOL PARENT, ACTIVIST
McGhee's sons attend the University of Chicago Charter High at Wadsworth and DuSable Leadership Academy. "My main concern is that they could maneuver safely, get to school and back home without getting killed," says McGhee, a parent leader with Grand Boulevard Federation. "I've had to work extra hard to get something that should be natural: a high-quality education."
MAKING SCHOOLS SAFER
[CPS) has to be aware of what's hapening-what gangs are thriving, where these gangs are located. If they don't have the resources to deal with the problem, reach out to professionals. Conflict resolution is important. Some kids are not taught at home how to deal with certain situations and they tend to lash out.
OPEN DOOR POLICY
Feeling welcome is key [to parent participation]. I've experienced schools that have security guards and it's like you're trying to see the president. I've been able to talk my way into buildings. But parents who aren't able to do that should still have that right.
GETTING INTO NEW SCHOOLS
Here's why [help is needed) : I was in a school and an older lady came in and said, "I understand that I can get an application at this school for my grandchild to go to a charter." The person at the desk told her, "I'm sorry, we don't have any." I pulled the lady to the side and told her to wait, and I went over and asked for an application. I received one. If you're not able to speak for yourself, sometimes you're left out.
Maria Guzman
PARENT, ACTIVIST
Lack of communication between schools hurts children, says Guzman, a parent leader with the Greater Albany Park Education Coalition and the mother of five children, including three CPS graduates now in college. "If schooh aren't giving information about getting from elementary to high school, or from high school to college, you don't know your options," she says.
KEEPING KIDS SAFE
Schools wait for something big to happen. If a kid says, "He's threatening me," they say, "Ignore it as long as he doesn't touch you." If they actually did something about it [earlier], that would help.
COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS
E-mail is good. The principal at North River gives out his e-mail so parents can communicate with him on their time and he can answer them when he's not busy. At Roosevelt, my son's teachers e-mailed me to tell me how he was doing. If there was a problem, they let me know.
SCHOOL CHOICE
People shouldn't have to go out of their neighborhood.
WHY KIDSD ROP OUT
A lot of the time it's the way the teachers treat kids. They tell them, "If you make it, you make it; if you don't, you don't." They need find out why he isn't learning. Sometimes kids need someone to talk to and they don't have anyone because there are problems at home. If the teachers aren't there to help them out, who's going to?
Lynn Morton
COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, PARENT
Morton, co-chair of the group POWER-PAC, says the transition to high school is traumatic for too many youngsters. "One solution that we talked about is exactly what Vanessa said-[good] middle schooh." Morton also says community groups need to spend more time volunteering in schooh. CPS should get the community more involved in community schools programs.
WORKING WITH CPS
CPS is a maze. You may start out talking to one person, but then all of a sudden they've created a committee, or you're sent to another department and you have to make four or five phone calls to find out who to talk to. Or CPS may say, "OK, we have your suggestions. We don't need to talk to you anymore." Then you have to maneuver to get back in on the conversation.
AUSTIN SHUTDOWN
It's had a trickle-down effect. Now we need another middle school. Michele Clark and Frederick Douglass are being turned into high schools, [which] neither one was built to be. They're cramming big kids into a teeny, tiny building.
THE FUTURE OF LSCS
I don't know if we'll have local school councils in 10 years. I see them not functioning the way that they should. Often they're a rubber stamp for the principal.
THE NEXT CEO
I would love to see an educator. I would also love to be able to vote on the School Board. Let them sell themselves to me.
Janette Beaton
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PARENT, ACTIVIST
Beaton has a daughter at Haines Elementary in Chinatown and is a parent leader for the Grand Boulevard Federation. She believes neighborhood gentrification has a major impact on education. "If you're a parent concerned about housing, it's hard to concentrate on [your child's] education," she says.
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS
We need a hotline that you can call and say, "Look, this is what's going on in my school, how can you help me?"
NO EXTENDED DAY
What's the purpose of keeping kids longer if we have a system that's not working educationally? We're constantly talking about test scores but I don't know if it's the time that they're in school versus having quality teachers. Students need the break.
ASSESSING RENAISSANCE 2010
Now there's competition between charters and neighborhood schools to get the best kids. Schools are fighting for highscoring students, but nobody is really fighting to educate children. Why doesn't the district work within the existing schools?
CUTTING DROPOUTS
We make assumptions, but go find those children and ask them why they quit. Did they move? Was it a gang problem? A violence or safety issue? All of that comes into play when you're traveling from point A to point B trying to get to school. You drop out because you give up, because you cannot get to school. That's because you can't automatically go to your neighborhood school.
