Cps promised schools that every child would be able to have a librarian as well as a promise that students 3-8 would have iPad and updated computer labs. Chicago Teachers Union Research Department has wrote a book of the aftermath a year later. Only 38% of these schools actually have a librarian on staff. I can speak to this because coming into my senior year, my school had to cut our librarians position. So now we have a library full of wonderful resources to use, except we cannot access it without a teacher because their is no librarian on duty to facilitate our resources. In many schools this is the case. Cps gives schools resources but does not give us the necessary tools to be able to use these resources to our advantage. Another example is the iPads that were promised. Schools have received iPads and the equipment, but have had to keep them locked up and unused because Cps failed to provide guidance/policies on theft, damaged, or lost property. To top it off some schools have even reported that their is no internet in their school, and teachers even pay out of pocket to get a hot spot to be able to have internet access and this is something that i definitely can attest to. Although these schools may seem to be hurting right now, not all Chicago public schools have been thrown in the dirt. The selective enrollment schools have not had to deal with any of these crisis. According to the Chicago Teachers Union
Research Department “for every dollar used to directly alleviate overcrowding, $1.50 has been spent on selective enrollment expansion.” This means that these schools are even benefiting from the crisis that CPS is putting neighborhood schools through and this is simply and downright wrong. CPS is supposed to attend to every school they have, but it seem that they just trying to get rid of the “problems” and cover them up by closing down schools instead of taking the time, like they should be, and trying to figure out alternatives, or simply giving the schools what they need to succeed. |
Local Context
Chicago school systems are a mess and have been a mess for many years. Chicago Public School’s have impacted Chicago greatly. These schools have been through a lot, and i know this because I've attended many different CPS schools. They have just recently closed many schools down, co-locate 17 and “turn around 5. Of course, outraged and angered many of the Chicago people fought back. Many people protested and tried to make their voices loud and clear.There was a three day rally, and thousands of people who attended community hearings. Regardless these schools were still shut down, with the exception of 13 schools. As they shut these schools down and relocated these students, they were promised that this plan would be okay and these students would get everything they deserve. However it was actually the opposite, there were many schools that were too overcrowded and understaffed. |