CORE is a member of GEM (Grassroots Education Movement), a community coalition that formed to end CPS’s unsound Renaissance 2010 plan. The group came out of CORE’s January 10, 2009 community forum at Malcom X College. Today, GEM held a press conference at the monthly Chicago Board of Education meeting. WLS-TV, WMAQ-TV,WGN-TV, CLTV, WBBM-AM radio, WBEZ, the Sun-Times, Substance, Chicago Talks, and other members of the media attended the event. The following is the press release.
Grassroots Eduction Movement Press conference 9:30 am October 28, 2009 125 S. Clark Street (CPS headquarters)
Stop Renaissance 2010!
Stop endangering student lives disrupting communities and wasting public dollars!
Media coordinator – Julie Woestehoff, PURE and GEM
Speakers:
Matthew Johnson, Cook County Juvenile Justice Center
Jillona Flowers, graduate, Austin High School
Cheryl Johnson, parent, Fenger HS
Rev. Victor Grandberry, LSC, Fenger and Carver Military
Col. Tony Daggett, former Commandant/VicePrincipal, Carver Military
Rosita Chatonda, displaced teacher, CORE member
Gary Henry, 2008 graduate, Englewood HS
Brittney Barnes 2008 graduate, Englewood HS
Chicago, October 28, 2009
Fenger parents and Local School Council (LSC) members joined today with members of the Grass Roots Education Movement (GEM) including parents, students, teachers, LSCs, and community members from across Chicago to call for an immediate moratorium on school closings, turnarounds, and other school changes under Mayor Daley’s Renaissance 2010 program, which they believe has had a negative impact on school violence without actually offering a better education.
GEM is demanding real community input into decisionmaking for our schools, with empowered LSCs at every school and an elected school board.
GEM members and allies gathered at Chicago Board of Education headquarters preparing to testify about their concerns and demands at the Board meeting. They charged that CPS has ignored consistent warnings from the community about the dangers of increased violence from Renaissance 2010 school changes.
Five years ago, in June of 2004, the Chicago Public Schools held hearings on the proposed closure of Austin and Calumet High Schools. Everyone who testified opposed the plan, with many warning that the closures would lead to violence.
CPS closed Austin and Calumet despite the warnings. And the community’s prediction came true. Within two years, violence increased in the receiving schools as much as 226%.
In February of 2009, CPS held hearings on the closure of Fenger High School. Matthew Johnson, the LSC chair at Dewey elementary school, works at the Cook County Juvenile Center, where one of the students charged in Derrion Albert’s murder is being held. Mr. Johnson spoke at the Fenger hearing last February. “I explained to CPS at that hearing that something like this would happen,” he said. “With my experience as a counselor at the Juvenile Detention Center, to turn Fenger around and bus children in and out of that neighborhood would be a serious problem for the community. Unfortunately, CPS refused to listen to individuals like me, or the teachers, students, and the community.”
Jillona Flowers was a student at Austin High School. “When CPS closed my school, I saw how it affected our community.”
Fenger parent Cheryl Johnson has organized the “Safe Passage to Schools Committee.” Ms. Johnson said, “Because of Renaissance 2010, our children lost important relationships with teachers, and we lost the security staff who knew the students and who could handle problems as they came up.” She and other parents from Altgeld Gardens want a high school in their community. “All children deserve a safe neighborhood school and a quality education,” she said. “It shouldn’t depend on your socioeconomic status.”
The Rev. Victor Grandberry, an LSC member on both the Fenger and Carver Military LSCs, believes that better decisions would be made if CPS listened to the local school councils. “We were shut out from the beginning,” he said. “We are the elected representatives of the parents, teachers, and community, and yet CPS did not listen to our concerns or our ideas for improving our schools. It’s very clear that CPS’s decisions and policies are backfiring on our children and our schools. We need more accountability from the top – it’s time for an elected school board.”
Col. Tony Daggett, Commandant/VicePrincipal of Carver Military School from 2000 2004, agrees. He was terminated as Commandant/Vice Principal by CEO Arne Duncan because he refused to go along with plans to turn Carver Military into a selective enrollment school. Col. Daggett’s leadership led to an increase in students graduating at Carver from only 29 out of an original 350 freshmen to 215 out of 240. “CPS wanted me to empty the school and bring in students from outside of the Carver communities. I refused. Our graduates were students from the community who had done so well (with caring leadership) – there was no need to institute selective enrollment.” Col. Daggett believes strongly in parent and community wisdom. He was proud of the fact that 83 candidates (highest number in the history of LSC reform) ran for the local school council in the first year he was Commandant/Vice Principal. “Parents were coming out in droves, and violence that had been in the school was completely under control.”
Another way that CPS makes the violence problem worse is to repress the facts about school violence by retaliating against schools for reporting violence. This causes some principals to retaliate in turn against teachers who report problems. CORE member Rosita Chatonda is one such teacher. She was suspended from her position at Edward White Elementary after reporting that a student physically and verbally assaulted her. “It’s not just my own safety,” said Ms. Chatonda. “These students need help, and they won’t receive it if the incidents aren’t reported.” Violence at her school is on the rise, but teachers are afraid to report serious incidents for fear of losing their jobs. “This environment will only lead to more violence,” said Ms. Chatondra. “We need to face the truth and work on solutions rather than punish the messenger.”
Gary Henry and Brittney Barnes were members of the last graduating class at Englewood High School. Both opposed the closing of Englewood. Mr. Henry felt that his teachers were important mentors who helped keep the class on track during the school’s last year. “It was especially unfair since we were sharing space with a Renaissance 2010 school. We were crowded in everywhere, but it brought us closer. We were determined to do justice to the Englewood legacy up to the end.” Ms. Barnes agrees that violence has increased as a result of school closings under Renaissance 2010.
GEM supports a moratorium on school closings and other R2010 school changes, more parent involvement and support, a student-centered curriculum, consistent staffing of certified, union professionals who know the students and the community, equitable resources for all schools, an elected school board, and an LSC- and community-based process of school improvement.
The Grassroots Education Movement is a coalition of groups committed to democratic principles
in the governance, pedagogy, and culture of our public schools.
GEM members include Blocks Together, Caucus of Rank and File Educators, Designs for Change, Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization,
Parents United for Responsible Education, Pilsen Alliance, Southside United LSC Federation, and Teachers for Social Justice.
