Montessori -- And Magnet -- At Oscar Mayer?

Thanks to a reader for letting me know about some curious and under-publicized things going on at Oscar Mayer, located in Lincoln Park.  I'm told that Oscar Mayer school converting to a magnet school -- with a Montessori program -- starting next year. [The Montessori program has already started -- I heard about it over the weekend.]  According to this reader, parents who have attended the information sessions at the school are reporting that it will be a “magnet school with neighborhood boundaries”, meaning all kids in the attendance area are guaranteed a spot. What's that -- a cluster magnet?  "This proclamation is not sitting well with others outside the area, who are complaining that the spoiled Lincoln Park community is getting yet another special school, etc." The OM website seems strangely vague on the application requirements: http://www.mayer.cps.k12.il.us/Mayer%20Web%20Site/programs.html.

Comments

Alexander I could be cynical, but what is being proposed for Mayer elementary is a magnet only for those who can get in. The families around Mayer have always been envious about Lincoln School, which is not far away. If you look at the census track data for the intake areas for these two schools you can see that they are both overwhelmingly white. But the schools themselves are racially and SES status wise completely different.

In 1992, Lincoln School was 30% low income, last year it was only 14.7% low income. Mayer on the other hand was in 1992, 61% low income, last year the school’s low income percentage was 70.8%. In 1992, Lincoln School was 42.6% Black and Hispanic; by 2006 the school was only 23.4% Black and Hispanic. Mayer has become more Black and Hispanic. In 1992 the school was 67.3% Black and Hispanic, by 2006 the school was 80% Black and Hispanic.

All the white upper middle class around Mayer school is asking for is what the CPS has already given to the upper middle class around Lincoln School, a nice white high performing school. Now the CPS has agreed to this long standing request.

The better question is why now? Having lived in Lincoln Park for years I would speculate that the reason is as follows: The Yuppies, traditionally who had children who could not or would not pay for Parker, Latin, or other high end private schools moved out of the city at the end of preschool. Because of the collapse of the housing resale market that option is less possible in Lincoln Park than it has been in the last 15 years. Therefore, if you are going to stay you need an appropriate school. Since you are already paying property taxes like crazy why should you not get a free elementary school education? Solution you take over the school starting with preschool and make it white and upper middle class.

[Tooold2beayuppiebutIamaLPmom]

I really wish we could refrain from calling Lincoln Parkers "spoiled" and "Yuppies." Isn't one aspect of improving all CPS schools keeping residents in CPS? We all (yes, including those of us, like me, in Lincoln Park) want good schools for our children. Why can't we celebrate the fact that we have schools like Lincoln and Bell and Blaine and Nettlehorst where teachers and, yes, surrounding parents are working to make these neighborhood schools compete with all the magnets and "gifted" schools that even we (as I live very close to LaSalle) can't get in? Should all of us hop on buses and criss-cross the city in search of a magnet, instead of trying to improve and PARTICIPATE in our neighborhood schools?

In any case, PLEASE let us not label each other. Even Alexander left CPS for a private school (as he said in another post) in search of a safe environment to learn. I think rich or poor, African-American or Hispanic, we all want SAFE, good schools.

I'd rather focus on why so many children fill the classrooms of the ever-growing number of private schools. If these kids would fill CPS rooms, instead, and give their money to CPS programs (even Lincoln parents, according to my neighbor, pay a lot for a "free" school to have the programs it does), then maybe there could be a trickle down effect for all of CPS. There's no such thing as a free education anymore.

My sister lives in probably the top school district in the suburbs. The way she talks, you'd think she pays for private school. There is no free ride ... anywhere.

I think that the data posted for Lincoln School shows that there is no "trickle down" effect. The better the school becomes the fewer non-white and low income students are in the school. The same thing is happening as 10:17 notes at Nettlehorst which is losing its minority population rapidly as it becomes a more high performing school.

The better question I think is to what extent is there a "trickle down" effect for selective high schools. We know that at Lincoln Park High there is very little, low income minority students are performing below standards. I can not answer the question for Payton, Northside, or Young. Because only the minority of students at Payton and Northside come from low income families regardless of race and there is a high correlation between SES status and higher test scores this is an interesting question. It would be a good topic for the U of C to study.

Frankly, we can use another social class descriptor for the majority of residents of Lincoln Park, if Yuppie is not appropriate. Should we use percentile ranking for income based on the current census data, along with a racial code? Would that be less objectionable?

[Wendy]

I don't think most parents who get involved in a neighborhood school want to drive out poor, minority kids. Their motive is to improve the school where they either send or intend to send their children. Oscar Mayer is a neighborhood school (now a neighborhood magnet school with a Montessori program). The reason why there are poor, minority students attending (or why there were in the past) is due to bussing. Bussing sucks. Seriously. Who wants to have their kids sit on a bus for an hour a day?

I do not live in Mayer's attendance area, but I do not begrudge the neighborhood parents trying to improve their school. And as a neighborhood school, they must accept students who live in their attendance area first.

The newly granted Montessori program, however, probably could have been placed in a different school that would have been able to accept students citywide. I went to one of the information systems and the reason I was given for why it is a neighborhood school first is because the surrounding neighborhood schools are already crowded and would not be able to absorb Mayer's attendance boundaries.

But back to the neighborhood school issue in general, what is wrong with parents trying to improve their neighborhood school? (By volunteering, raising money, etc.) Isn't this kind of parental involvement to be encouraged?

[response to Wendy]

Well, Wendy we can take you argument one step further. Why should the property tax dollars of high value homes in Lincoln Park be shared with the CPS school district as a whole. I mean if you look at the tax base around Lincoln School a completely new building could have been built with just those tax dollars years ago.

The logical conclusion of your argument leads to the Balkanization of the city into little enclaves based on their self generated resources. In that situation majority Black and Hispanic communities in Chicago become the losers. Because we live in city where whites are a minority I think Wendy that your proposal is completely unacceptable.

I don't know that Wendy's argument can be logically extended in the way that "response to Wendy" suggests.

It's one thing for a Chicago resident to want their neighborhood public school to be a quality option for their child. It's quite another to suggest that the tax revenues derived from a neighborhood ought to be reinvested in that neighborhood (after all, that's what's so controversial about TIF's).

What I don't understand is why CPS thinks turning Oscar Mayer into a Montessori magnet school is the right move to incent more families living in that neighborhood to consider Mayer.

There a plenty of examples of north side public schools emerging as high quality neighborhood options without such a conversion.

Another question is this: What happens if a resident of the Oscar Mayer neighborhood wants to send their child to a traditional neighborhood school that does not have Montessori as the theme? I'm not sure they have any choice, assuming they don't get accepted at a magnet school or some other school, and I'm not sure that's ok.

I love these conversations where the privileged blithely discuss all the overhauls they are will to make to the schools as long as Daley and Duncan agree to get rid of 92 percent of the population.

Otherwise, it's charter ersatz schooling and empty pockets and sending poor parents to beg for money that will NEVER be spent on poor children...

[Wendy]

Please do not categorize me as a segregationist simply because I believe that kids ought to be able to go to a quality school in their own neighborhood. I don't live in Lincoln Park and neither Lincoln, nor Nettlehorst nor Oscar Mayer is my neighborhood school. (It happens to be Coonley, if you care).

I happen to be all for spreading the wealth of tax dollars around the city. Or how about this: Why not have more affordable housing available to low income families in "upscale" neighborhoods? Sounds like a good idea to me.

But don't accuse me of being racist because I think that parents who work hard to improve the school in their own neighborhood ought to reap the benefits of their labor. I'm talking about time, talent, and fund raising invested in a school, NOT about tax revenue dollars.

The truth is *all* of the schools in CPS could stand this good kind of parental involvement. And you don't have to have a high income in order to that, just determination.

"I happen to be all for spreading the wealth of tax dollars around the city. Or how about this: Why not have more affordable housing available to low income families in "upscale" neighborhoods? Sounds like a good idea to me."

Ha, ha, nice try but too late - they already told people that lie when they knocked down Cabrini Green -and we all know how much more diverse and egalitarian that area has become, don't we?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me (unlike rich Yalies, the rest of us are required to know the both words and meaning of such adages; after all, the irony keeps us sooo warm).

[Wendy]

Just because the Cabrini Green dismantlement was not a success, this is somehow my fault?

It doesn't make it any less of a good idea just because that one failed to be implemented properly.

[Alexander]

don't worry about the goonie birds who are commenting about your post, wendy -- folks just go off on what they think people are saying, and are too shy to say who they are. thanks for letting us know your thoughts. keep on reading and commenting.

[Eury]

Just thought I'd use my name, to Alexander's point, as I posted (weak attempt at humor) as "toooldtobe..." I left this discussion for an important reason: adopting a baby quite unexpectedly. (Who is not white, so I will personally do my duty to change the demographics in LP. Ha.)

As she's sleeping at the moment, I'll just say that I didn't mean the "trickle-down" effect to be monetary. I meant that the MORE people who support CPS, rather than running to the readily available private institutions, the better for everyone. Wouldn't you agree? There IS an emotional/psychological trickle-down effect. I've seen it with Nettlehorst, where people are wishing now they were in that district. And those in that district aren't running as often to the private schools.

I agree with Wendy. I don't think the changes there or anywhere are meant to drive minorities away, but rather to encourage greater participation in CPS. And, I think that DOES help everyone. Should a Montessori program have been put elsewhere? Perhaps. (I, frankly, am not "into" Montessori!)

Chicago is one of the most (if not the most) segregated cities, both in terms of race and income. CPS cannot change that. And, I think it has had the burden to do so. Trying to integrate schools has not done anything to integrate neighborhoods. However, that is a discussion for another website, perhaps.

Okay. Back to the baby!! I probably won't post again until she's 5 and entering CPS, but I will read. So, good luck and good conversation to all.

[Michelle]

Sorry I'm late to this discussion, but FWIW --

It’s so ironic that middle-class parents (of whatever race) are berated for moving into a previously working class neighborhood but sending their children to private schools. In that situation, it is sometimes said that they believe that they are “too good” for the public school, and so only “poor kids” bused in from other neighborhoods are left with the sloppy seconds.

Over time, when some of the middle-class parents take the initiative to invest in their neighborhood public school and send their children to the school, those same parents are then vilified for “pushing out” the poor kids.

What exactly does someone like “response to Wendy” propose is the best solution? Don’t allow neighborhoods to attract middle-class families? Ban middle-class people from the public schools? Or perhaps from the city limits?

[Kate]

I think it's great that Oscar Mayer is working hard to become a neighborhood school where LP parents want to send their kids.

What I object to is the big magnet dollars that are going to what is essentially a neighborhood school. I am "into" Montessori and was really hoping for another Montessori option for my daughters.

I'm in Bucktown a block and a half away from Drummond and can't get in. Yes, there are other underperforming schools nearby that have space available, but they need a lot of work. . . and I already spent time working on Drummond (which was my neighborhood school). Apparently, there are a lot of parents into Montessori because Drummond had over 700 families apply last year. There was quite a fight to get a situation like Oscar Mayer here, but families were told it was impossible because of the way the funding was coming into Drummond and because a magnet school needed to be open to the whole city.

I'm curious as to how the magnet racial requirements will work at Oscar Mayer. I thought Magnets could only have a certain percentage of white students. If it becomes primarily a neighborhood school, won't those percentages be way off?

The whole thing just stinks of politics and CPS shenanigans. It makes me mad.

Kate, the CPS consent decree that created the racial quotas is ending. Fundamentally, based on Supreme Court decisions what we have here in Chicago is an illegal quota system. The Judge overseeing the current consent decree wants to end the case, but the CPS is trying not to end it. This because the CPS wants to prevent its elite high and elementary schools from becoming virtually all white and asian, it is politically difficult you know when a majority of the voters in Chicago are not white and middle class.

Soon you and Wendy will have the freedom you desire. The CPS will have no legal right to limit the number of white students in any school, or limit the number of minority students for that matter. So Michelle you do not have to worry, the white middle class enclaves in Chicago will be able to have virually all white and high income students in their local elementary schools.

[JakeCP]

I graduated from Oscar MAyer in 2006 and now I currently go to Lincoln Park High School. I am African-American and I live in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I would just like to say that Oscar Mayer is in need of those drastic improvements. It's funny how all of you on here want to alk about the neighborhood being spoiled, but I am not going to lie, that school wasn't all that good. Instead of discouraging the improvement of another school you should encourage it. That way more schools can be improved in the near future. It's just a shame that none of these changes didn't go into effect until after Fmr. Principal Robert Blitstein retired.

[Raulin]

I don't understand the venom of some people against higher-income families living in the city. I guess they would like Chicago to become Detroit. That's an egalitarian city for sure. No tax base for schools, but hey, at least they achieved equality in the city.

[Anon]

Having taught with CPS, my honor was getting involved with the programs for my students. The blessing was that I learned that these programs were there for my daughter who also was able to benefit from the great programs, not necessarily for the 'wealthy', but for the parent who is willing to find out about these programs. Now she is in a University that is very competitive, not due to her stepping over others, but because of her ' diverse skills', (having accessed programs at Northwestern, DePaul,and Gallery 37). She has the breadth and depth in her education, that contrasted to being competitive and with just 'academic' skills from a homogeneous setting. She had the honor of learning along side those who were not handed everything which also created a sense of classism's sins. ( Hopefully, the teachers can be supported to support even the students without so much family help. I did a grant to do this- there are ways).
My daughter is less 'competitive' and is now at a place where she is able to converse with many, as one who is majoring in a society that is changing. The common thread among parents ? I consider one to be parents want their children's gifts align.
This " Darwinian' model is not the working spirit, and as a teacher, I encourage parents to not feel intimidated by those who think that their children have superiority by way of their parents' economics. This generation better start looking at models of bridging, finding support for those in each grounds, or there will be subterfuges down the road.
Again,I have had the honor of seeing my daughter be accepted at a very good college. She is not intimidated by the children who had been from the 'burbs'. A lot of these students did not dialog outside of their ' zones'. She actually was with others in protesting how a sorority made fun of Latin Americans. She did not do it out of ' good doershipping'. She had a first hand experience of the love of families and acumen of many cultures.
Give your children a ' more 'whole positioning'- the greener student?
- we are not isolated, guys..
Read Catherine Bateson's book, Peripheral Vision, on the handicap a child has if they do not have the construct of ' otherness'. She actually used a metaphor of how in an ecosystem that is homogenous there is toxicity and when it is heterogenous, there is flourishing.
By the way, the seventh grade class at Oscar Mayer needs much support... I will leave it at that.

Thanks.. if off base.. trust you and your contribution to the schools to be the ' thing'. The schools are strong as your work/commitment.. An eighty-one year old, still vibrant engineer said to me last night, " Teach your students that it is better to have the pain of discipline, than the pain of regret". What does that mean? I guess if you have to think the schools are some ' magic carpet' than a place to share your faith, disciplines to be an alternative to elitist separatist societies, you will reget having tried to live in Chicago's rich and diverse surroundings. ( That might mean getting rid of some who do not really educate ---maybe find ways to assess this for your school. I think Duncan over all is working to do valid assessing of the teachers- there should be some way to assess teachers who are burned out, with dignity?)
Every ten years, a teacher needs a sabatical..to get perspective.

ciao, adios, later.. ( thanks, from a parent who just passin on hope, if 'preachy', sorry) =)