Chicago Public Schools officials announced Wednesday that the school district has altered plans to close, consolidate and turnaround several South Side schools, in part, because of feedback it received at public hearings.
Chicago Public Schools officials announced Wednesday that the school district has altered plans to close, consolidate and turnaround several South Side schools, in part, because of feedback it received at public hearings. “The public hearing process is designed to allow for open dialogue between all concerned parties, and to provide the opportunity for school officials to hear first-hand from those most affected by these proposed changes,” said Ron Huberman, CEO for Chicago Public Schools.á “We know well that closing a school is not an easy task, nor is it popular.á But our process allows for substantial input from stakeholders so that we achieve an end result that benefits the students, parents, faculty, and community.” As a result, George W. Curtis Elementary School, 32 E. 115th St., will not be closed but turned around instead. CPS officials cited Curtis and John Marshall High School on the West Side, as the two worst performing schools – academically – in the entire district. Two other schools that are no longer considered for closure are Simon Guggenheim Elementary School, 7141 S. Morgan St., and Ignance Paderewski Elementary School, 2221 S. Lawndale Ave. Additionally, Frank L. Gillespie Elementary School, 9301 S. State St., will not become a turnaround school as previously planned. CPS officials said the school’s leadership has been engaged in locally driven changes that show great promise for increasing academic achievement. Irvin C. Mollison Elementary School, 4415 S. King Drive, will not be consolidated with Ida B. Wells Prep Elementary School, 244 E. Pershing Road. Huberman said he questions whether the Wells educational model would transfer comfortably to Mollison. Huberman added that the process of public and community hearings continues to yield valuable testimony, but that CPS is committed to an even more open and transparent process in considering any future school actions. á“We will be establishing a formal unit charged with early identification of schools that are underperforming academically and helping design interventions and strategies to get them on track,” he said. “We want to have better – and more timely – dialogue with the stakeholders, school and community leaders at schools that might qualify for a school action under our policies.” Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart said while it is encouraging to see that Huberman is establishing a “formal unit” designed to get schools on track, she is still disappointed that only a handful of schools were removed from the proposed action list. “It is with dismay and mixed feelings that I respond to the board’s decision to remove only five of the 14 schools from the list for school action,” Stewart said. “CPS needs to bring all the stakeholders to the table to produce real education reform.” Two weeks ago Stewart held a news conference and said the public hearings were a waste. “The decisions have been made already, so what’s the point in having meetings when they (CPS) know what they are going to do regardless what the public says,” she said. However, Huberman said that is not true and that CPS welcomes feedback from the community on how it can improve schools. The Chicago School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed school changes at its Feb. 24 meeting. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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