Post by title1parent on Jun 26, 2011 6:56:29 GMT -5
Mayor Emanuel encourages new education grads to work for CPS
BY DARRYL HOLLIDAY Staff Reporter dholliday@suntimes.com
June 25, 2011
In his first six weeks in office, many Chicago Public Schools teachers believe Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put a target on their backs by canceling their scheduled 4 percent raises and saying students got “the shaft” in recent years.
But the mayor nevertheless encouraged the crop of potential new teachers graduating from National Louis University’s 125th Spring Commencement Saturday to come to work for Chicago schools and help overcome the system’s challenges.
Out of the 70 students graduating with doctoral degrees, 54 obtained degrees in education from the teacher training program at NLU, 122 S. Michigan.
During his commencement address, Emanuel announced plans to double the number of teaching academies within the Academy for Urban School Leadership — a partner with CPS and NLU — from seven to 14 within the next 2 years.
“We’ll be opening two more schools next year,” Emanuel announced. “And by the year 2013, Chicago will have 14 academies in our classrooms and will be graduating 200 teachers a year,” which, according to Emanuel, is equal to 10 elementary schools worth of teachers every year.
Many of the graduating students took Emanuel’s words to heart and plan to work in the city’s schools, especially in lower-income areas.
“There are challenges from every angle — politically, socially and economically — we have to be realistic,” said Ramon Goggins, an Uptown resident and one of Saturday’s graduates, noting that he hopes to teach in low-income schools because that is where he came from.
Regarding Emanuel’s cancellation of teachers’ scheduled 4 percent raise, another graduate, Pamela White-Raines, 41, of Auburn-Gresham, took the decision in stride.
“You can’t miss what you never had,” she said while sympathizing with teachers currently in the system that are affected. “The money shouldn’t steer me from focusing on what needs to be done for the kids.”
The mayor said that the new grads will also be a vital part of the school system’s new direction.
“Nearly one out of every two kids in our public school system will not’’ graduate, Emanuel said. “That means my job, your job and the job of the city is that much harder, and we have got to turn that around.”
The mayor urged the graduates to give back to the city in their future careers.
“I hope you stay in the Chicago area because I will continue to do what I think is best in telling the city of Chicago that we have the best-trained, best-educated workforce,” he said.