Good Schools Require Saintly Parents

Ages ago, when my daughters were babies, I knew a smart, inspiring woman with two young sons. Her boys were quite impressive, too, both in the way they carried themselves and in their accomplishments. I asked my friend where they went to school.

She told me the name of the Chicago Public School where they were enrolled. She then highly recommended the teacher/administrator who shaped the program there and later became a principal at another CPS elementary school. My friend added that if I wanted to find an excellent school for my daughters, I should find the woman and the school.

Which I did. One of my daughters attends that school, even though the (yes-it's-true) amazing principal has since retired. The new principal has retained much of her educational philosophy and most of her staff. But almost immediately, the new principal ditched the practice of assigning homework over Winter Break. Yay!

Still, my daughter occasionally gets an assignment that pretty much requires doing homework over the holidays. I suppose the quality of teaching developed under the former principal is too deeply ingrained. These teachers teach, after all. And so, this year, my daughter's group assignment - to film a 4-5 minute commercial having to do with the reading of Brave New World - is due Jan. 6th. School resumes Jan. 4th. Are you kidding me?

What do you think about that? I don't know anymore. On one hand I'm annoyed, because scheduling six 8th graders around family plans is tedious and difficult. On the other hand, getting six 8th graders together is socially fun, and I'm sure they all took something positive away from the experience.

The mom who hosted the event? I'm sure she took a gigantic headache away from the experience. After 6+ hours of dealing with technology issues and personality issues and the teenage stomach, this woman deserves public thanks, a hug, a beer. Or, maybe a get-out-of-chaperoning pass for the remainder of the year?

Preschool Blues

From an advocacy alert I receive: "Early childhood programs are marked for funding cuts of one-third – $123.3 million – in budget decisions approved by the Illinois State Board of Education on Tuesday.  That move would strip preschool help from more than 30,000 young children. . . ."

For those of us living on the northwest side of Chicago, this could mean the elimination of preschool programs in 60 public schools in the area. That's 70 kids from my daughter's school alone. I don't know what this news means for preschool teachers. (I can imagine what it means for families, though.)

I have a call into my daughters' former preschool teacher - one of the best teachers I've observed in our 9 years with Chicago Public Schools. To see her program dismantled would be an outrage.

Rahm Encounters

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. . . I've been thinking about pulling the blog down. Or maybe starting a new one in a different vein. Today I'm leaning toward the latter.

Anyway, I just got my automated "So long and thanks for all the fish" call from Rahm Emmanuel. And since I really haven't heard anything but negative Rahm comments from everyone I know, I thought I'd weigh in with my positive spin.

I've met the Congressman twice. The first time must have been about six years ago - when he was running for office - at my local Jewel. I recognized him at the door, and I literally yelled out, "Rahm Emmanuel!" He smiled at me and we talked for a minute or two. He asked what my issues were, and I remember feeling like he was listening (not just campaigning). I introduced him to my daughters and he was kind to them.

A few years later I saw the Congressman at a Rahm's Readers event. This was a program he started in the Chicago elementary schools that encouraged children to read. At the program end, he invited participants to an awards program/social event. My daughters and I attended, and the Congressman was there with his wife and beautiful young children. But the day wasn't about Rahm Emmanuel . . . he was really just in the background. The day was about the school children. (And too often it's not.)

Cool, huh?

My Father, the Unschooler

My father’s mother immigrated to this country when she was 11 years old, in 1919. As the story goes, she did not speak any English, and school officials put her in the second grade—with the 7 and 8 year olds. That, as the say, wasn’t working for my grandmother, and thus ended her formal education.

My father graduated from high school, but never finished college. School was never as satisfying to him or as intellectually rewarding as the public library.

Five of his six children have college degrees, though. His sixth child, never went to college. He was born in 1974 with Down syndrome, and went to school longer than all of us. He wore a cap and gown at his formal graduation—at the age of 26.

My father doesn't tell stories about his success at school, because there wasn't much. He tells stories about his success at life. My father is an autodidact. Growing up, I remember him writing and painting and reading and listening to music. To this day, he studies philosophy texts and books on quantum physics in his spare time. Right now, he's teaching himself how to speak Spanish.

He taught himself, and in doing so, taught us.

CPS Saps My Energy

Hubby and I send our twin daughters to two different Chicago Public Schools (CPS). It's a long story, and one I'm not going to tell now.

But over the last few days, I've been thinking about what we've gained by sticking with that decision. As a family, we've been exposed to diverse educational experiences; our daughters to a broader curriculum. We've found more friends, had more fun, worked with more teachers and teaching styles, and learned about the politics of different neighborhoods. Double-everything hasn't always been easy. (Truthfully, at times, it's been downright difficult.)

But I'm fond of saying that difficult things are worth doing. In this case, our decision forced Hubby and I to keep the big educational picture in mind. We could never just focus on one school, one set of issues. And that was worth it, because slowly we've come to see how all the CPS children and CPS educators and CPS schools are connected.

The downside of our experience is that we've come to realize the problems CPS faces are just too vast. Each year I ask myself, what program/
teacher/school won't be around next year? And now, after the CPS week we've had, I'm quickly losing confidence in our ability as a city and as a society to solve these problems at all.

If this is how I feel, as a parent, imagine how the teachers feel.

CPS Blues

The Chicago Board of Education's monthly meeting is this Wednesday at 10:30am (125 S. Clark St.) A lot of changes coming. . . .

Click here and start reading under the category "125 S. Clark St." to learn more.

Recess & CPS: Will the Cartoon Network Rescue Recess?

My two daughters attend different CPS elementary schools (K-8), one with recess, the other with a “closed campus” (meaning no recess and a 20-minute lunch period). I believe that closed campuses in Chicago started back in the late 1970s in an effort to keep schoolchildren safe from street crime and violence.

Back in the late 1970s, I was in elementary school myself, and that means a generation (or two) of Chicagoans has grown up without recess. My daughter has not had recess in more than five years.

But people are working on it. For example:

1. The Cartoon Network sponsors something called “Rescuing Recess”. This movement might be working for some people, but the Cartoon Network doesn’t inspire a lot confidence in me, what with its siren call to children to waste away in front of the boob tube in physical inactivity.

2. Parents United for Healthy Schools has organized more than 30 parent organizations to bring a “Recess” bill before the Illinois state legislature. The bill, which requires a 10-minute recess for all elementary schools in Chicago, passed the House in May of this year. As far as I can tell, it’s languishing in the Senate. And this doesn’t inspire confidence in me, either. Check the Illinois General Assembly Bill Status page for updates, though!

And while I may recognize the absurdity in situations #1 and #2 above, I do think recess will come back in this city. It’s time. And I would very much like to see—just once—a program that was cut from public education reinstated.

Recess & CPS: How Much Is Recess Worth?

So, Jordan—a mother with a second-grade son enrolled in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system—was blogging about the lack of recess. It pained me to read her words, because they are so familiar. After six years in CPS, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard these same sentiments expressed by other parents. I’ve expressed them myself.

Usually, the talk begins with some parent mumblings on the school grounds. Then, concerns about the physical and mental health of small children get brought up at a local school council (LSC) or PTA meeting. But nothing ever happens.

Except that good people leave the system. One of my favorite school moms transferred her son from our recess-less school to a private school with recess. She stuck it out for two years, though, before she made the switch. I saw her, after the move, and asked her how the new school was working out.

“It’s fine,” she said. “But I’m basically spending 8K a year for recess.”

Science Literacy (Or, What $288 Can Buy)

I have a long list of books I’d like to read before I leave this world. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is on it, and I took great satisfaction recently in checking it off.

Five years ago, when my daughters were newly enrolled in Chicago Public Schools, I chose to become involved in that system through volunteering. I’m not really a School Picture Day kind of mom or a Lunch Duty mom (though I have been, on occasion). As a reader, I’m more interested in the books my children bring home, and the kind of work my children are asked to do.

The curriculum—the exposure to various subjects—is the thing.

So I got involved in the school’s Barnes & Noble Book Fair for a few years. This is an advertised shopping day, when members of our school community spend money at Barnes & Noble with a percentage of sales coming back to our school. We typically earn about $900. I would then divvy up that money (through book purchases) between all the teachers who provided me with a wish list of books for their classrooms.

The science teacher’s list was incredible, and eyeballing it, I guessed the cost of providing it would extend beyond our tiny budget. The list included classroom sets (30 copies) of various Golden Field Guides (tree, fish identification) and a set of Silent Spring for an eighth-grade environmental science unit. I suggested the teacher prioritize the list, and Rachel Carson came out on top. Nevertheless, that year I went a little heavy in the science department, and spent $288 on 30 paperback copies of Silent Spring. I went to our Parent-Teacher organization to request additional monies for the purchase. Parents voted and agreed to give me a bit more money for book-buying. In the school newsletter I listed every book title I purchased for the teachers and how much I spent. No one complained how the money was spent. Some people even thanked me for keeping them informed.

I suspect, though, that there are parents in these United States that would complain about spending PTO funds on books by Rachel Carson. I hope I'm wrong about that, for the children's sake.

On the most recent Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISATs), my daughter’s school vastly out-performed the city and the state averages on their basic science assessments. I’m not surprised. One teacher can have quite a ripple effect.

And even though many years will pass before my daughter is asked to read Silent Spring for class, her teacher generously loaned me out a copy of the book for the summer.

That’s how I came to read Silent Spring and how I came to blog about Rachel Carson and science literacy.

History Fair

Last week I served as a History Fair judge for a Chicago public elementary school. This was my second year judging, and I signed on again knowing I would probably be asked to read between 7 and 10 gigantic boards (or other media) on various historical topics related to Illinois/Chicago history.

The projects were impressive, I must say. Each of these students had enough research, documentation, and text to fill a children’s book. In my opinion, many of the projects could be repackaged as such and pitched to a publisher.

I thought I knew what to expect because of last year, but I guess every year the kids up the ante. For example, one of the first boards I looked at this year featured the student’s interview with the former Mayor of Chicago, Jane Byrne! There, staring me in the face, was a photograph of them together at a Chicago diner.

I awarded two perfect scores, for two completely different projects. They were beautiful projects. I’m so proud of these kids, and I don’t even know who they are.

In all my years of public schooling, I do not remember ever being asked to complete a History Fair project. So I can honestly say that I do not know if I could have done this level or quality of work at the age of 12-14. I wish someone cared enough to ask me to try.

What makes the History Fair so special, then, is not what the kids learn about history, but what they learn about themselves. These young kids know exactly what they can accomplish and exactly how much effort it takes to accomplish it.

And that is a rare gift.

The CPS You Don't Read about in the Papers

Recently I started reading a blog about Chicago Public Schools. It's "unofficial" and contains mostly anonymous (and occasionally venomouos) comments. But the education reporter who runs it keeps the dialogue moving. I read it because it's something to gauge our family's CPS experience against.

I've added it to my "favorites", at left, because there are many, many voices over there, and each brings passion to a topic of importance to this city.

I know other school districts (and even some principals) have blogs, too, and I encourage those who are interested in their local school districts to seek out these alternative viewpoints. Urban districts have their own special problems, of course, but they are not alone in dealing with the complex business of educating our youth.

A Shining Star

Here is a link to Chicago Catalyst, a magazine that published an interview I conducted with Nirupa Mathew—an outstanding teacher in the Chicago Public School system. Nirupa wasn’t feeling well the day we met, but even so, she devoted more than an hour to answering my questions about teaching kids to read. Any school district would be thrilled to hire Nirupa, but she’s staying in the city—where she can have maximum impact. She’s so cool!

Not Just Another Test

Last year more than 9,000 students across the country chose to take the National Mythology Exam. This is a test available to 3rd-through-9th-graders in public schools, private schools and home schools. It’s just for fun—an enrichment program to encourage students’ love of mythology and classical literature.

“Just for fun?” I asked myself.

My fifth-grade daughter had never been interested in taking this exam before, and in trying to determine why she wanted to now, I thought about some of the children’s books she’s been reading over the last year or so: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries series.

Some of those books my daughter loves so much she can’t wait to share them with her out-of-town cousins in their new monthly book group. Case in point, next month’s book is Riordan’s Lightening Thief, a novel about a modern-day boy who learns the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus are real.

It seems impossible to me that a public school kid in today’s world of high-stakes testing would want to take another test—and even study for it. But it's hard to predict what will engage a kid’s imagination.

A pleasure of parenting is finding out what does.

Fat Tuesday

I have New Orleans on my mind today, as I have for many, many days and months.

At left, I have added a link to The Times-Picayune, a daily newspaper covering the greater New Orleans area. I have also added it to my daily online news roundup.

For those of you who watched Spike Lee's Katrina documentary, I hope you can get your hands on the current (Jan./Feb.) issue of The Atlantic. In it, Amy Waldman has written a fascinating article about the rebuilding of New Orleans' public schools.

This is a story worth following.

Little Miss Sunshine and Breakfast with the Principal

On Friday I attended a fifth-grade Breakfast with the Principal. At my daughter's public school, the principal hosts two breakfasts a year, the first at the start of the school year and the second halfway through. I usually try to make the breakfasts because they’re not like other school meetings. They’re not as formal as Local School Council (LSC) meetings or as busy as Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings. They're not like Report Card Pick Up Day or Open House gatherings. At these breakfasts—and this is my twelfth—we can push aside school business for an hour if we choose.

We chose to do just that on Friday, and the other six moms and I listened to our principal reflect on her life and career and her vision for the school. She gave us her specific philosophy of building respect between students and teachers. She explained a new tactic for math class. Then she listened as we talked about why we might allow our kids to watch a movie like Little Miss Sunshine or a TV show like The Simpsons. We talked about Sex Ed (because fifth grade is the year for that) and early-onset puberty. We shared our frustrations with the war in Iraq. We discussed how our children view that war, how they interpret the modern world, what motivates them, and what we learn from them.

In short, we had an adult conversation.

I believe this is what’s missing from many public schools today.

So I applaud this principal, who continues to invite parents in for a chat when she could very easily choose not to. And I admire her for helping me to remember—year after year—that it's important to slow down and listen to each other once in awhile.