1) How many teachers/staff left the year before
and why?
Schools all over Chicago are in chaos. Intentional chaos. The year after the largest number of school
closings in the history of the United States followed by massive budget cuts to many schools left a wake of destruction and
pain. Get the information from teachers
and staff at your child’s school about how many teachers left and what’s going
on that so many are getting out. Ask about
the school climate, how teachers, staff, and students were treated last year. Ask
if teachers are miserable at this school.
Ask why they are miserable. Many
teachers are probably afraid to say anything, but if you ask them about it
directly, they might open up.
2) Are there
positions left unfilled and why?
It is possible your child will begin the school year with
long term subs. Be angry about this,
especially if the position was filled the year before. That teacher was likely run off by the chaos.
3) What is the situation with substitutes?
Speaking of substitutes, CPS has manufactured a severe
shortage of day-to-day subs. Many
schools simply have no one to cover classes when teachers are out sick. Your child may ILLEGALLY be taught by a classroom
aide, specialist teachers like the art/music/gym teacher, or special education
teachers pulled from their students with special needs.
4) Is your child’s teacher on a “provisional
certification”?
CPS has many teacher positions filled with Teach For America
or Chicago Teaching Fellows novices who do
not have certification or experience working in schools. Ask about your child’s teacher's certification, being
specific about whether they are on an “initial” (new, fully-licensed teachers),
“standard” (teachers with more than four years working in schools), or “provisional”
(little to no training in teaching whatsoever.
And thanks to TFA lobbying efforts in Washington, parents are not even
informed when their child’s teacher has not completed a training program).
These untrained staff are often placed in special education
positions despite having no expertise working with students with disabilities. It is a gross injustice to allow these people
to be placed in a classroom, but CPS is increasing the numbers to save on
personnel costs. Make a fuss about the
administrator hiring people from these alternative certification programs.
5) What kind of discipline is happening at the
school?
CPS is implementing a new discipline policy with very little
support, planning, or alternatives. CPS
has completely outlawed suspensions in early grades and put quotas on how many
days a child can be suspended for. While
it is commendable that CPS wants to cut down on suspensions and move toward
more restorative practices, it is apparent that they have not given schools the
types of resources to truly improve behavior.
Many schools are turning to oppressive discipline strategies that treat
students like inmates in prison to quiet the chaos. Ask lots of questions about if classrooms are
safe spaces and what is being done to meet ALL children’s needs.
6) How much of a
focus are standardized test scores?
If you walk into your child’s school and see a wall of data
from testing or if schools give out awards to teachers based on this testing,
be concerned. A school which is overly
focused on test scores often warps its curriculum to up these numbers…at any
cost. If your child complains about
boredom, behavior problems of peers, or seems to be losing a love of learning,
a test-focused school culture is often part of the problem. And know, this push for better test scores
often comes from higher-ups, not the school staff or administration. Partner with them about how to resist the
testing mania. Often parents have a
greater ability to push back than teachers.
The anti-excessive testing groups More Than A Score and FairTest have some great
resources.
7) The last, and most
important question is “What can I do?”
Fight back. Parents,
we teachers need you. We are being pummeled out there in the
schools. We will never be the kinds of
amazing educators your child deserves if these purposeful policy attacks
continue. And know that this is
happening all over CPS-including the
charters. There are no good choices
out there as long as this system continues unchecked.
We need you to stand up for us, scream about the injustices
we all see as loudly as possible. Do not
let CPS continue to get away with these injustices. If the sick and twisted truth were out in
broad daylight for all to see they could not do these things!
Find out the whole truth. And then shout it out to
winds. Let’s force something better.
 |
| Members of BAM gather at the Neighborhood Schools Picnic in May 2014. (Crystal Stella Becerril) From http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17053/bad_ass_moms_defend_chicago_public_schools |
Resources:
BAM (Badass Moms) /Neighborhood Schools Fair
Raise Your
Hand
Community
Groups ie KOCO, Albany Park Association, Brighton Park Association, Pilsen Alliance, etc
More you
can do:
Go to CPS board meeting and speak up
Get involved
in your school's LSC.
Tell your child's teacher you are on their side.
And...Help
Karen Lewis get elected for mayor so we can FIX these problems!
