If you've got a question or comment for the blog, don't write it here -- cuz no one will see it.
Write it here, where the new site it, so that it can be read and responded to.
It's the same blog, just in a new home.
We'll move the past posts and comments over to the new site in a few weeks.
After nearly two years, District 299 is now moving over to Catalyst Chicago.
The address is changing, but not much else.
Check it out here. It looks pretty good.
Email me if you have any problems or questions (at District299 at gmail dot com).
See you over there.
Earlier today, word leaked out from the secret Catalyst corporate headquarters high atop the Sears Tower that this blog was moving to their site, starting tomorrow. And it's true. I'm actually pretty excited. Here's the announcement:
"Starting November 1st, Alexander Russo's District 299: The Chicago Schools Blog will move to Catalyst Chicago. It will be featured on our home page. Russo, a contributing editor to Catalyst, launched his CPS blog in December, 2005. Since then, the site has turned into a gathering place for parents, teachers, and activists to read the latest news, share the latest gossip, and find out what's going on in other parts of the city."
So that's where you should go starting tomorrow AM (here). The site won't change much in terms of its look and appearance, and as I've explained before your privacy, anonymity, and right to rant and rave (within reason) are all being preserved. Enjoy! And if you ever have any troubles, let me know at district299 at gmail dot com.
I don't know much about him, but I'm told that Earl Durham has passed away recently. He was a civil rights advocate and friend of Al Raby. He was also the chair of Designs For Change. Does anyone know more, or have information about him that could be shared?
Police added to schools hit by CTA cuts CST
Chicago Police are planning to pull desk-duty officers onto the street
to help shore up patrols around schools that will be most affected by
the upcoming CTA cuts.
Raffle to help struggling Chicago Public Schools Daily Northwestern
Today at The Rock, members of Alpha Epsilon Pi and Platform-One
Entertainment will hold a raffle for tickets to see rap artist Common
headline a benefit concert in January. The raffle tickets cost $3 each
or $5 for two, with proceeds going to the Chicago Public Schools.
Study Finds No ‘Educational Triage’ Driven by NCLB EdWeek
A new study offers evidence to dispute the notion that the federal No Child Left Behind Act is pressuring educators in struggling schools to focus on the “bubble kids”—students who fall just below the passing threshold on state tests—at the expense of students at the high and low ends of the achievement spectrum. His findings run counter to those of a recent analysis by a pair of University of Chicago economists.
Area Dentist vs. Willy Wonka: A Fight to the Death Chicagoist
Taffy is the worst for your teeth. Sugar is the best.
Nearly everyone goes overboard with annual test score coverage, as usual (click below for most if not all of them). Whose coverage did you find the most useful?
From ISBE:
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced today that more than 200 schools and districts are being removed from improvement status as a result of their student performance, attendance rates and graduation rates...Analysis of the 2007 Report Card data shows that 184 schools and 36 districts have been removed from improvement status by making AYP for two consecutive years. In addition, the data also shows that 113 schools and 102 districts in improvement status made AYP in 2007.
Sure, Jackson Language Academy got "Friends" actor David Schwimmer. And Bears cornerback Charlie Tillman was with Mayor Daley at Orr HS.
But who did the other schools in your neighborhood get, and were they any better (or worse) than in previous years?
Click here for the full list (pfads_2007.xls), courtesy of CPS, and let us know what your PFOD experience was like.
Just so you know, this site is going to have a new home starting on Thursday. I want to give you a couple of days to get ready. There will still be open commenting, and the site will still be independent editorially -- I criticize pretty much everyone and everything, as you know.
What will be different is that the site will be affiliated with -- but not controlled by -- another organization to be named soon, and I will (finally) get a little bit of Diet Coke money for the time it takes to post stories, monitor comments, add fun new functions, and call around once in a while for tidbits and gossip.
But, I repeat, the content is still going to be entirely mine, for better or worse. Your comments and contributions are still going to be yours. So don't get all paranoid on me. Or if you do, do so while reading the site and writing to tell us all about it.
Thanks as always for making this blog one of the most interesting (and fun) things I've done in recent memory. Onward and upward.
Illinois toddler had 13 times the safe lead level USA Today
Advocates and researchers say this may be the most grim aspect of the
nation's lead problem: State and local governments, in many cases,
don't have the resources to clean up lead until children turn up
poisoned, effectively making them lead detectors.
School Days: Providence-St. Mel School ABC7
In 1978, against tremendous odds and opposition, Mr. Adams and his
supporters re-opened PSM as an independent school. Almost three decades
later, Providence-St. Mel serves Kindergarteners through 12th graders,
preparing over 600 students each year for college. The success of the
vision is seen in students at every grade level because they are
instilled with the mind-set that college is in their future.
Gloves Not Guns Youth Boxing Program Chicagoist
The
United States Olympic Committee awarded an Olympic Opportunity Grant
earlier this month to World Sport Chicago. The Gloves not Guns program,
run in cooperation with USA Boxing,
the Police Athletic League, and the Chicago Park District, promotes the
sport of boxing to Chicago's urban youth as a way to stay in shape--and
out of trouble.
UPDATE: Suit
fails to block moment of silence Sun Times
A federal judge has cleared the way
for a 15-second "moment of silence" to begin today at Buffalo Grove
High School, in keeping with a new state law called the "Silent Reflection
and Student Prayer Act."
The Associated Press asked researchers to find out how many high-dropout schools there were nationwide and by state, and found stark but perhaps not surprising results:
Study shows nearly 10 pct of high schools are ‘dropout factories’
Peoria Star Journal
At Sullivan High School on Chicago’s North Side, 479 students —
the majority of them minority and low-income — enrolled in the class of
2006. By senior year, just 82 of them remained in school.
Too few grads Chicago Daily Herald
A separate report released in July by the Consortium on Chicago School Research found almost half of Chicago Public Schools students don't graduate.
Click below to see the list of 35 CPS sc
hools and their cumulative dropout rates. Click here to see the national view and where Illinois fits in. For some reason, the local dailies do not appear to have covered this story.
Daley: Do-or-die time for CTA Chicago Sun-Times Schools CEO Arne Duncan noted
that the CTA cuts would effect 52 elementary and high schools. More
than 41000 City Colleges students would also be impacted. ...
10 selected as magnets Tribune
"The magnet makeover plan is our latest strategy aimed at creating
high-quality options for all students across Chicago," Mayor Richard
Daley said in a statement.
Bond Set For Teen In Fatal Shooting Of 10-year-old WBBM
Bond was set at $1.5 million Wednesday for a 17-year-old boy charged in the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Arthur Jones. "There were a lot of witnesses who really came forward"
Illinois Teachers' Retirement System Narrows Funding Gap Crain's
A $3.8 billion-investment gain, among the highest ever, helped compress the funding gap in a pension fund for Illinois teachers.
Some of you love Halloween for all its creativity and tradition, while others of you loath it for the disruptions and interruptions it brings to classrooms and learning. (My favorite part of it is that it comes at just the same time as the state test scores are officially released -- talk about "trick or treat.") Which side are you on, and why? Tell us what happens at your school, or home, or block -- currently or in the past -- and what's happening this year. Costumes? Candy? Parades?
Some ideas Chicago tried before:
Official Proposes Grading Parents Hartford Courant
Mike Vaughn, a spokesman for the Chicago school district, said the
program was dropped after about a year in part because the
superintendent who had championed the plan left for a new job.
Some folks from Chicago trying to get hired elsewhere:
Pastor's job qualifications released Arizona
In her resume, Pastor highlighted a three-year stint managing a project
with Chicago Public Schools to create partnerships with museums in the
city.
An idea from DC that might -- or might not work:
D.C. Mayor Appoints First Public Education Ombudsman Washington Post
The ombudsman position is considered critical to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school reform effort.
I asked around for some background on the references to schools using Title I parent involvement funds to take folks on junkets, and got this provocative and informative response from PURE's Julie Woestehoff:
"There's a long, unfortunate history of schools and districts throwing away parent involvement funds on national conferences...At the local school level, it's all about who gets to go...The Rochester conference is for five days, not including special pre-and post-conference events....The parents are by definition (supposed to be) poor and often have no other opportunity to travel in style like this, so naturally it's considered a huge perk...In Chicago, people have hung on as "Title 1 parents" just to go on the trips long after their last child graduated...Chicago Citywide ESEA “President-for-Life" Bobby Green is the prime example."
Assuming Woestehoff is accurate (see below for complete text), this sounds like a pretty amazing scam. Take a look, and tell us what you're experience has been. Going to Rochester? Ever heard of Bobby Green?
Got some things to say about how Illinois principals are (or aren't) prepared for the real world of schools and district bureaucracies? I bet you do. Well here's a survey that welcomes K12 teachers' input. Take a look and tell them Alexander sent you (Principal Preparation Program Survey Survey).
Two worthwhile stories about struggling communities in Chicago -- Cabrini Green and Englewood. The Englewood story in particular, about the 55th Street dividing line between gangs and the funding cut from CeaseFire, seems more detailed and closely reported than many you usually see:
You can go home again Tribune
Miles Warren III, 26, spent seven years of his childhood living in the
Cabrini Green public-housing project then moved around the city with
his family until they settled in Lincoln Park.
Arthur Jones’ legacy may be getting gangs to take responsibility for change Medill
Arthur Jones was the third child to die by gunfire within a week in
Chicago. According to Monique Bond, Chicago Police Department
spokeswoman, 54 people aged 19 or younger have been killed by gunfire
so far this year.
It seems like the national press got lots of pics of Chicago area schools being cleaned, even though Chicago doesn't seem to be ground zero. Maybe someone called a press conference?
A (Sometimes) Deadly Scourge New York Times
Caption: A Chicago school where officials thought a student might have a staph infection ordered a heavy-duty cleanup.
Entire school system to be scrubbed after superbug case CNN.com
Caption: Workers clean a classroom in Chicago, Illinois. Staph infections have spread recently through several schools.
Illinois' School Silence Law Kicks Up a Big Fuss Associated Press
Two weeks after a new law mandated a moment of silence in Illinois public schools, the debate is anything but quiet.
When is a school lockdown needed? Tribune
Six months after the Virginia Tech shootings, and just days after a
student in Cleveland shot four people in his downtown high school, the
incident at Morton West underscores the ongoing debate over campus
security and the judgment call that school officials are forced to make
following a gun threat.
Mayor Daley promotes science and technology in Chicago schools Medill
Speaking to business leaders and others gathered at a Microsoft
Corp.-sponsored expo Thursday, Mayor Richard Daley stressed the need
for a high-quality public school system focused on math, science and
technology.
Headlines from the other blog:
Scott Reeder On Teacher Misconduct
An Oversupply Of Under-Qualified Teachers
Cleveland High School Student Shooter Video Released
Lice Costs US Schools $500 Million, Says Lice Removal Company
DonorsChoose On The Colbert Report
Bringing Race (and Poverty) Back Into Education Reporting
Time Writer Calls Education Research A "Circus"
Best Of The Week
This Week's Question: Who Are You? 50
Montessori -- And Magnet -- At Oscar Mayer? 12
LSCs
CPS Board President Hates LSCs 13
Curie LSC Chair Reinstated...But Not Until 11-30 15
125 S. Clark Street
18 Of 19 New Schools Approved 3
New School For Autistic Students Not Good Enough 1
Linking Attendance To The Master Schedule 12
Charter Chatter
Requested Test Score Data 23
Not Even Close 1
Media Watch
The Defender & Heartland
School Choice, Race, and Income In Chicago 8
School Life
Making CVS Safer 4
Costumes and Candy 5
Mr. Silva's Students Go To ISU
Hand Washing, Baby Wipes, and Head Start 3
Teachers & Teaching
What If Marilyn Stewart Wanted To Sue You? 2
Chicago Teacher Retention Program Goes To DC 6
Teachers Fired, But Not Decertified, In Illinois & Elsewhere
That's what's happening in one Oregon district, where,
according to EIA Mike, the local union president is so disgusted and
upset by what's being said about her that she's trying to force Google to reveal the blogger's identity so that he or she can be sued. If only there was a CPS-related blog that was good enough to warrant the same treatment here.
Some schools don't want kids to have candy Sun Times
Gun-toting
gangsters, swashbuckling pirates and blood-drenched zombies are out.
Clowns, ballerinas and (unmasked) superheroes are in. Candy corn?
That's a toss-up.
Boo-humbug Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Public Schools has no
official policy governing costumes, though many principals err on the
side of caution. "We're not restricting candy," says ...
At a Chicago High School, A Renewed Focus on Security WBEZ
Last school year, these problems were compounded by
a series of shootings that traumatized teachers and students. We
decided to find out what, if anything, had changed this year.
10-year shooting victim laid to rest Chicago Defender McCaskill, who is being held in lieu of $500000 bail, said he got the gun from a relative's home, an admission that angered Arne Duncan, CEO of CPS. ...
'We're living in a crossfire' Sun Times
They
celebrated 10-year-old Arthur Jones with hands clapping and voices
raised in song, a boisterous tribute to a life cut short by gun
violence.
Parents say school for disabled a disgrace Chicago Tribune Chicago Public Schools
officials said they were unaware of the predicament before the school
year started. But they have visited the school and plan to ...
Hope Institute plans school in Chicago Springfield State Journal Register The new school, Hope Chicago Campus, is opening after the institute’s application last spring to become part of the Chicago Public Schools Renaissance 2010 ...
Worried about charter schools taking over CPS? Relax. The National Association of Public Charter Schools' latest report (Top 10 Charter Communities by Market Share) includes nary a mention of Chicago. To get on the list, Chicago would have to have 13 percent of its students in charter schools (or way more than 43,000 kids). I don't think we're anywhere near that, thanks to the charter cap and the small size of most charter schools.
Only one of the 19 new schools that Arne Duncan proposed for next year and beyond didn't get approved at yesterday's Board meeting, according to the press release below. I'm told it's Community Services West that got held back, but is expected to go up to the Board next month. Congrats and condolences to all those who got the green light. You've got a busy year ahead of you to get students and get the doors open on time. You'll get accolades from the press and from the Board, but many of those who comment here won't take what you're doing seriously. Thank God there's only two more years until we get to 100 new schools and 2009-2010.
After all that, the Board has determined that controversial LSC Chair Tom Ramos should be reinstated onto the LSC at Curie as of November 30, though not as chair (since that's already been given to Otis Davis). Amazing. There's no explanation, no apology, no nothing in the 10-19 letter from Duncan that was sent to me. I'm told that Ramos is also reinstated at Columbia Explorers, where he was on the LSC also.
And CPS confirms that Jones is now officially the AIO for Area 24. One thing I don't get is why they won't let him back until November 30th. Anyone have any ideas about that?
Readers are still sharing vivid events and typical days in their lives on the "Day In The Life" comment thread, including this one from Mr. Silva about taking CPS kids to ISU for a look around. You won't be surprised if you are a CPS educator, but it's still pretty interesting to see how the kids react to a college environment.
Here's some of why LSC advocates are so unhappy with current CPS Board President Rufus Williams, as compared to his predecessor, Michael Scott. And no, it's not because the Ballroom Dancing program was better than Real Men Read (though I know that's a heated argument).
Click to watch Williams speak at the City Club on October 2. The quality isn't good, but the audio is fine. I got this from the PURE blog. They're celebrating "Rufus Williams Non-Appreciation Day."
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