Rahm Emanuel's Ability

Can Mayor Rahm Emanuel improve Chicago's public schools thus improving the quality of life in Chicago's lower income neighborhoods?

He can if the Mayor creates a cultural movement that persuades more parents to value education. Mayor Emanuel could call upon Chicago's best educators, marketing experts, and grass roots activists to developed and implement plans that will accomplish the impossible.

Mayor Emanuel has the ability to bring Chicago's best minds together to improve our public schools.


Marc Sims
Chicago


From NBC's Rock Center.
Harry Smith is the reporter.

Mayor EMANUEL: There's only one problem I'm--gives me pause. Never--the fiscal ones, the financial ones do not give me pause.

SMITH: What gives you pause?

Mayor EMANUEL: Harry, you go around sometimes, kids are growing up in an environment in parts of the city that you wouldn't let your own kids grow up in. There's no sense of life, and there's an emptiness in their eyes that you don't know if you can change. And they can see downtown; and yet, for them, it's miles and miles away. And I don't ever want a city that for some of our children they don't think they're part of that. And I don't know whether I have the ability to affect that.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007221&docId=l:1547148812&Em=7&start=1

Change The Culture Of Poorly Performing Schools

Can Chicago Public School's CEO Jean-Claude Brizard change the culture of poorly performing schools?


From the Chicago Tribune:
Against these odds, there have been some remarkable, albeit isolated, success stories at CPS schools in predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods. At Burnham Elementary School in the city's Jeffrey Manor neighborhood on the South Side, for example, 8 out of every 10 students meets or exceeds state testing standards. The school also boasts an early literacy rate of more than 75 percent.

At Mount Vernon Elementary School on the Southwest Side, Principal Dawn Scarlett has steered a school off academic probation for the first time in five years by emphasizing teacher accountability. Since taking over the school three years ago, Scarlett has provided more teacher feedback and support, but she also ramped up the monitoring of teachers inside the classroom so weakness can be identified and corrected.

"It's all about instruction. It's all about who's in front of those kids," Scarlett said. "I don't really blame anything else. I don't pass the blame to parents. If you have the right instructors in front of children, that is so much of the battle."

"I'm not just looking for (improved) test scores, I'm looking for a different type of culture," Brizard said. "That's the only way organic change happens."


CPS fails to close performance gap
Black students still losing academic ground despite reforms, study finds
November 14, 2011|By Joel Hood, Chicago Tribune reporter

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-14/news/ct-met-cps-racial-gap-1114-20111114_1_performance-gap-cps-jean-claude-brizard





Marc Sims
Chicago

Crime And Violence In Chicago

Can public service announcements help end the crime and violence that plagues many Chicago neighborhoods?

I have mailed letters and sent e-mails to Mayor Emanuel asking him to persuade music radio stations to air public service announcements encouraging all Chicago residents to support their neighborhood school.

Asking the purveyors of anti-intellectualism to help eradicate crime and violence and improve urban education in Chicago sounds counterintuitive. However, we all have the responsibility to improve the schools thus dramatically reducing crime and violence.

I believe most Chicago Public Schools in my community are up against a culture where education is not a top priority. Where some parents feels it is the responsibility of their children and the public schools to make sure their children do well in school.

Influencing a culture or changing a mindset will take some time and a lot of creativity. We activist and concerned citizens have to developed creative ways to persuade low income mothers, grandmothers, and their children to value education.

Will public service announcements instantly end crime and violence in Chicago? Will public service announcements magically improve the Chicago Public Schools? No, but music radio stations airing public service announcements every hour is just one creative way to improve the quality of life for all Chicagoans.



Marc Sims

viewpointchicago@yahoo.com



11-06-2011

The Way You Fix A School In The Hood?

Do you believe; the way you fix a school you have to do something about the world kids come from?

marcsimschicago@gmail.com

Wendell Smith Principal Johnny Banks; And he says this is not the way you fix a school—to do that, you have to do something about the world kids come from.

http://www.wbez.org/story/local-school-council-votes-charter-school-takeover-91281


Local school council votes for a charter school takeover
Resolution asks CPS to "change this school to a charter now."
Listen to this Story
By Linda Lutton | Aug. 31, 2011