Post by gatormom on Jul 29, 2008 4:50:39 GMT -5
New Trier vs. CPS: Meeks plans protest
Sun Times
July 28, 2008
BY VIVIAN HUANG Staff Reporter/vhuang@suntimes.com
State Sen. James Meeks is urging parents to keep their children out of Chicago Public Schools the first day of class and instead board buses to the New Trier school district.
The plan is an attempt to bring attention to the "ever growing school funding inequalities between rich, white and poor, minority school districts in the state," said Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church, on Sunday.
Meeks, joined by a coalition of minority clergy, will also attempt to enroll the children Sept. 2 into the "wealthy, white New Trier suburban school district."
"He's tried everything," said Tasha Harris, a church spokeswoman. "But when does change occur? Change occurs when we fight for it, especially for our children."
Harris said Meeks received a letter last week from an Illinois State Board of Education official assuring that "schools will not be penalized" financially because of the planned absences.
New Trier High School Interim Principal Tim Dohrer said: "Whatever plan he has, he has to make sure that the individuals live in the district."
www.suntimes.com/news/education/1077761,CST-NWS-meeks28.article
Call for Chicago students to skip 1st school day
By MICHAEL TARM
Chicago Tribune
Associated Press Writer
5:33 PM CDT, July 28, 2008
CHICAGO
In a bid to highlight funding inequalities at Illinois public schools, community leaders in the nation's third largest school district on Monday called on students from poorer parts of Chicago to skip the first day of classes and spend the day instead trying to enroll at a school in a wealthy suburban district.
Critics of the planned Sept. 2 protest say it will undermine campaigns to get as many Chicago students as possible to attend the first day of classes and send the wrong message to children.
Protest organizers, though, say their message about unequal funding trumps any on attendance.
"Today we are back to two-tiered schools -- white and affluent on one side, and black, brown and poor on the other," said State Sen. James Meeks, a black minister on the city's South Side. "That's an injustice and it's immoral."
Meeks said he expects several thousand Chicago students to take part by traveling in a caravan of buses to New Trier Township High School in the leafy, North Shore suburb of Winnetka, where they will attempt to enroll.
Overhauling how public schools are funded in Illinois has been hotly debated for years -- but to little avail.
Reformers want the state to move away from a system where money for local schools derives largely from local property taxes, saying the status quo results in vastly better funding of schools in property-rich neighborhoods.
State statistics, for instance, indicate that the New Trier district spends around $17,000 annually on each of its students compared to the around $10,000 a year Chicago public schools are able to spend.
"We, as a civilized people, can't do it this way," Meeks said. "We're doing irreparable harm to hundreds of thousands of kids."
Officials at New Trier Township High School District 203 said it wasn't yet clear how they'll deal logistically with so many Chicago students showing up at one time to attempt to enroll at the high school.
"We have sympathy for the issue of school funding. ... But I think (Meeks) is harming his cause by doing this," said the district's superintendent, Linda Yonke.
She said she would have to consult lawyers to see if the district might be obliged to enroll any of the Chicago students.
Meeks said the protesters would seek to enroll based on state rules allowing students to transfer to another district if their safety's at risk. The inferior education they receive in Chicago, he said, "was not good for the safety of their futures."
Officials at Chicago Public Schools said they also sympathized with the planned protest -- but couldn't support it.
"We appreciate Rev. Meeks' efforts to spotlight the inequities in our state-funding structure, but we want our students in our schools on Sept. 2," said CPS spokesman Mike Vaughn. "We want to make sure students hit the ground running, and that starts with being in school the first day, the first week, the first month. It sets the tone for the rest of the school year."
Organizers initially worried the protest could result in even less money going to cash-strapped schools since state funding is partially tied to school attendance. But the Illinois State Board of Education told them the first day of school wasn't weighted more than any other day in funding calculations, so the impact of some students not showing up should be negligible.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-schoolfundingprot,0,3449583.story
Sun Times
July 28, 2008
BY VIVIAN HUANG Staff Reporter/vhuang@suntimes.com
State Sen. James Meeks is urging parents to keep their children out of Chicago Public Schools the first day of class and instead board buses to the New Trier school district.
The plan is an attempt to bring attention to the "ever growing school funding inequalities between rich, white and poor, minority school districts in the state," said Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church, on Sunday.
Meeks, joined by a coalition of minority clergy, will also attempt to enroll the children Sept. 2 into the "wealthy, white New Trier suburban school district."
"He's tried everything," said Tasha Harris, a church spokeswoman. "But when does change occur? Change occurs when we fight for it, especially for our children."
Harris said Meeks received a letter last week from an Illinois State Board of Education official assuring that "schools will not be penalized" financially because of the planned absences.
New Trier High School Interim Principal Tim Dohrer said: "Whatever plan he has, he has to make sure that the individuals live in the district."
www.suntimes.com/news/education/1077761,CST-NWS-meeks28.article
Call for Chicago students to skip 1st school day
By MICHAEL TARM
Chicago Tribune
Associated Press Writer
5:33 PM CDT, July 28, 2008
CHICAGO
In a bid to highlight funding inequalities at Illinois public schools, community leaders in the nation's third largest school district on Monday called on students from poorer parts of Chicago to skip the first day of classes and spend the day instead trying to enroll at a school in a wealthy suburban district.
Critics of the planned Sept. 2 protest say it will undermine campaigns to get as many Chicago students as possible to attend the first day of classes and send the wrong message to children.
Protest organizers, though, say their message about unequal funding trumps any on attendance.
"Today we are back to two-tiered schools -- white and affluent on one side, and black, brown and poor on the other," said State Sen. James Meeks, a black minister on the city's South Side. "That's an injustice and it's immoral."
Meeks said he expects several thousand Chicago students to take part by traveling in a caravan of buses to New Trier Township High School in the leafy, North Shore suburb of Winnetka, where they will attempt to enroll.
Overhauling how public schools are funded in Illinois has been hotly debated for years -- but to little avail.
Reformers want the state to move away from a system where money for local schools derives largely from local property taxes, saying the status quo results in vastly better funding of schools in property-rich neighborhoods.
State statistics, for instance, indicate that the New Trier district spends around $17,000 annually on each of its students compared to the around $10,000 a year Chicago public schools are able to spend.
"We, as a civilized people, can't do it this way," Meeks said. "We're doing irreparable harm to hundreds of thousands of kids."
Officials at New Trier Township High School District 203 said it wasn't yet clear how they'll deal logistically with so many Chicago students showing up at one time to attempt to enroll at the high school.
"We have sympathy for the issue of school funding. ... But I think (Meeks) is harming his cause by doing this," said the district's superintendent, Linda Yonke.
She said she would have to consult lawyers to see if the district might be obliged to enroll any of the Chicago students.
Meeks said the protesters would seek to enroll based on state rules allowing students to transfer to another district if their safety's at risk. The inferior education they receive in Chicago, he said, "was not good for the safety of their futures."
Officials at Chicago Public Schools said they also sympathized with the planned protest -- but couldn't support it.
"We appreciate Rev. Meeks' efforts to spotlight the inequities in our state-funding structure, but we want our students in our schools on Sept. 2," said CPS spokesman Mike Vaughn. "We want to make sure students hit the ground running, and that starts with being in school the first day, the first week, the first month. It sets the tone for the rest of the school year."
Organizers initially worried the protest could result in even less money going to cash-strapped schools since state funding is partially tied to school attendance. But the Illinois State Board of Education told them the first day of school wasn't weighted more than any other day in funding calculations, so the impact of some students not showing up should be negligible.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-schoolfundingprot,0,3449583.story