Utilization Meeting, Round Two

CPS released its "schools still on the table for possible closure" list a few weeks ago. There are no schools in the massively overcrowded O'Hare network on it. But that hasn't seemed to stop the conjecture about what is going to happen to the only two under-performing, under-utilized schools within the network. Last week, GIPNA circulated its proposal to the Board of Education. My reaction to late-in-the-game GIPNA proposals has hit nerves in the past, and I anticipate that this one will as well.

At today's O'Hare network community meeting, representatives from 13 schools spoke in 6-minute segments about the challenges faced by their communities. Three schools did not speak about overcrowding. Murphy school was one of them. The other two were Roosevelt H.S. and Disney II.

Murphy's LSC chair, Roberta Salas, and other representatives focused their comments on how Disney II is going to take over "their" neighborhood school, Thurgood Marshall Middle School, and how the community will feel the loss of this highly prized neighborhood jewel.

As both a current Disney II parent and Independence Park resident, I find this stance presumptuous and misleading. First, as I noted later, CPS has not yet identified a facility for the expansion of Disney II, which the board approved in December. This lack fuels conjecture and negative sentiment. Decisions should not be made based on rumors. Second, it's misleading for Murphy community to act like TMMS is their neighborhood school.

Indeed, as Paul Flaherty, TMMS principal (who was in the audience, but did not make public comment) told me after the meeting, TMMS has four feeder schools; Murphy began retaining its 7th and 8th graders in 2010, so very few go on to TMMS. The vast majority of TMMS students come in on a bus, from Falconer, Henry, Barry, and Volta. When speaking candidly of his students' challenges, Mr. Flaherty told me that although I live within two blocks of the building, I am ineligible to serve on its (anemic) LSC because I do not live in the school's community. When I looked up the attendance boundaries for TMMS on the CPS site, the map overlays do not correspond in any way to the GIPNA boundary.


Roosevelt High School was the third school in the O'Hare network not facing overcrowding. A teacher, Tim Meegan, spoke. He urged parents concerned about high school to consider Roosevelt, and spoke for 6+ minutes about the scourge of charters and the importance of public education, citing study after study. I had no idea that the investors in charter school organizations enjoy a 39 percent tax credit, for example.

CPS strikes again

There was a Local School Council meeting of Thurgood Marshall Middle School tonight at 5 p.m., which is a crummy time for parents of small children. The Dad had a late meeting, but I had planned to attend, so The Boy, The Girl, and The Baby had no choice but to accompany me to the meeting. I loaded up a backpack with a few coloring books, crayons, some snacks, and a few toys that could be used for quiet play, got everyone into their shoes, strapped The Baby onto my back and walked over to the school. They buzzed me in and I walked into the office only to find out that the meeting had been canceled. I was a bit disappointed (The Baby is heavy!), as were The Boy and The Girl, oddly enough. But it was nice to see the inside of TMMS. I had never actually been in the school side of the building before. The Boy was impressed with the large aquarium tank full of fish in the foyer, and I thought the display of art-project masks was pretty cool.

I need to be more aware of (and make a better effort to find out) what is going on in my neighborhood schools, even if my children don't attend them. Going to today's scheduled LSC meeting was an attempt to do so. I'm hoping GIPNA will let me know when the meeting will be re-scheduled, as the person I spoke to at TMMS did not yet know (possibly in 2 weeks, she said).

The Boy and The Girl asked me several times why the meeting was canceled, and we tried to come up with some reasons while we walked over to the park to play instead. Everyone took a ride on the swings -- The Boy and The Girl on the regular ones ("super high, Mama! Push me super high!") and The Baby in a baby swing. Then The Girl met a new friend (it amazes me how little girls can see each other across the playground for the first time and be holding hands 5 seconds later!) and had a great time running around with her. The playground was filled with little girls today, and The Boy was wearing flip-flops, which are hard to wear while playing on woodchips, so he didn't seem to have as much fun as The Girl and The Baby. I did catch a snippet of The Girl's conversation with the other little girl:

OG: Let's play house.
TG: OK! I'll be the mommy and you be the daddy.
OG: No. I'll be the mommy and you be the honey.

That just cracked me up. I needed it, as The Baby gave me a series of mini heart attacks while he crossed the suspension bridge and tried to go down the stairs. He is still figuring out how to go down, so it was particularly hair-raising for me to watch my baby go feet first over square metal steps with bruise-inducing corners.

On the walk home, The Girl was clutching herself and saying she had to pee, so we stopped at our neighbors' house to use their bathroom. Their house is going on the market, so it was clean and beautifully staged. If I could afford it (and I didn't have to sell a house), I'd be interested in it myself.