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On Tuesday, when President-Elect Obama announced that Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan was being nominated as Education Secretary, one of the many praises Obama lavished on Duncan was that he "championed good charter schools, even when it was controversial." It appears that charter schools are still controversial, as a group of teachers, parents, and students turned out at a Chicago Board of Education meeting yesterday to express their disappointment with the charter school program and how they are "destroying neighborhood schools."
The main argument against the CPS charter schools is that they cater to the kids that shine on state tests, leaving the lower-scoring kids behind in neighborhood schools. This not only lowers the school's overall assessment score -- which in theory might dissuade good teachers from working there -- but also removes high achieving students for others to model themselves after. Jesse Sharkey, a delegate for the Senn High union, is not fond of the current charter school system because he feels it goes against the meaning of a "public school":
[Sharkey] said that after a fight at a charter school in March, 19 kids showed up at Senn with letters saying they had been "dis-enrolled'' from the school. Charters "are allowed to kick people off the island,'' Sharkey said. "We're supposed to take all children. How is that fair?"Duncan claimed the CPS would investigate the incident, but as "charters are allowed to create and enforce their own disciplinary code," we're not exactly sure what he's going to find out as they don't seem to be technically in the wrong. Could it be he was just trying to give the issue the brush off until he packs his bag and skips town on January 20?
Photo of Senn High School by Steven Crane
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Arne was more rewarded by circumstance than whisked to DC by his good governance. Come April, A LOT more teachers will start to look at their $900 yearly dues with A LOT more scrutiny than they did a year ago. Too bad we're stuck til '12
"...removes high achieving students for others to model themselves after"
I can't speak for anyone's experience but my own, but as someone who did well in public school my only reward from other students was doing entirely more than my share in group projects.
If the Board of Education is so concerned about the well being of its students, perhaps it should consider examining the Teacher's Union-mandated 8-to-1 work day.
Seriously. Non-charter schools are released at 1pm every day. And it's the lack of "high achieving" students to act as "models" that makes CPS a vortex of suck?
No. Fail.
8-1 mandatory workday? Uh, no. As the daughter and sister-in-law of CPS teachers, and a former CPS student, I am calling bullshit on that one.
Try 7 am to 3 or 4pm at the school each day, not including all the paper grading and lesson plans done at home.
8-1? When I taught in the CPS, two years ago, the day was more or less 8-3, and the expectation was that you stayed late or came in early to be available for students who wanted help.
I can't think of a single teacher--CPS or otherwise--who just works an 8am -1pm day, no matter what time school "lets out."
By the time you factor in 'mandatory' meetings, planning, and grading, teachers put in more hours each week than people in most other professions I know.
well, i may have been fed some bad information. i was (and still kind of am) under the impression that the teacher's union put a limit on the length of the day that it's members would teach.
and here's a little bit of interesting info on the union:
http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/19/chicago-teachers-union-broke
the point is, chicago public school teachers might want to look at their own organization for some of their problems. this isn't a rant against teachers - i'm married to one (who just so happens to teach at a charter).
i realize that teachers put in extra hours, but everything i've been told about the CPS system is that it's a world of fail.
I have to call bullshit as well. I don't know about the 8-1 thing one way or the other, but my wife was a teacher for 5 years, but not in Chicago, and she definitely worked more than just during classroom hours.
This is a common and well-entrenched misbelief of many parents and politicians, that teachers are only working during the time kids are in school.
Now, clearly, as in any work environment, there are those who work hard and even go the extra mile, and there are those who do the minimum required.
But there are certainly many, many teachers who come in well before class starts and leave well after the buses roll out -- not to count the hours spent after work at home grading, lesson planning and so on.
Many people also point to the summer as proof that teachers don't really work that much, but when you are working 60 hours a week for 9 months, that compares favorably to a person working 40 hours a week for 12 months.
Not to mention that many teachers also take on summer jobs, either teaching-related or not. I remember seeing one of my grade-school teachers working the cosmetics department at Belk one summer. Not only was it weird to see a teacher out of school, but it was the first time in my young life that I realized that teachers didn't get paid much.
But, as I said, there are also lazy, terrible teachers out there just counting the years until retirement. They do the minimum, the kids don't learn much, and they are the ones who help drag the whole profession down.
Both sides of this teacher argument tend to exaggerate thier circumstance. Teacher pay and benefits, for instance, aren't that bad, especially in Chicago. Working circumstances often are lacking, though, and there is a tendecency among those who actually like the job to work long hours. (It is by no means a requirement, though).
And teacher unions aren't as evil as the other side would suggest. Those who say they are would do well to make sure they have correct information before they make an argument. My children go attend a CPS high school from 7:40 to 2:55, and then they stay afterward for clubs. The teachers are there all day.
If there was enough money to have charter school, AND to fund the neighborhood ones w/ great teachers, supplies, and small class sizes, then they'd get my support.
From my research, they don't work because of selection bias. Take the best students, get the best grades, send the struggling ones back to the neighborhood schools. Fix ALL schools FIRST.
I call bullshit.
patbooyah has an agenda. First-time poster alert. If you're anti union and you hate the idea of the CTU, fine. But don't lie to us about how your wife is a teacher. You're an agenda goon.
My GF gets to work at 7:30 and technically gets to leave at 2:00. Anone who teaches will tell you they don't leave at 2:00. Oh, and she gets a 20 minute lunch. And she does lesson plans on her own free time on the weekends.
Piss off PBY.
Oh my God, that's Senn in the picture! I live across the street from NSHS. Now there's a story ...