CPS’ dismal state

By Alexandra Dodson

King College Prep

Cheri Monik, an English teacher at King College Prep on Chicago’s South Side, said it all boils down to choice when asked about Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to enroll his children at an elite private school that was attended by President Barack Obama’s daughters.

“I agree with [Chicago Teachers Union] President Karen Lewis that everyone has to make the choice that is best for his or her family,” she said during an interview with Columbia Links. “But we, the city of Chicago, should be working for resources and professional development offered at private institutions such as the U. of C. Lab Schools so that all schools can utilize the best possibilities to educate all Chicago students--private and public.”

In the fall, Mayor Emanuel will send his three children to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park, not far from the president’s Chicago home. The decision generated a media firestorm over the summer because Emanuel, a Democrat who supports school reform, is the head of a city where public schools are dogged by a low high school graduation rate and were hammered by a recent budget shortfall, among other things.

Chicago Public Schools were facing a budget shortfall of about $710 million, but the Chicago Tribune reported in August that it closed the gap through a combination of measures, including raising property taxes by the maximum amount, generating $150 million; reallocating $240 million from the system’s reserve funds and cutting spending by about $320 million. Additionally, statistics show that high school students who graduate from high school within five years is about 55.8 percent, the Chicago Tribune reported on June 23.

Mayor Emanuel engaged in an angry, finger-wagging scolding of NBC 5 reporter Mary Ann Ahern when she asked him about the decision to send his children to private school, according to a July 22 Chicago Tribune article by John Kass. The outburst received widespread attention because Emanuel is known for his temper and no-holds-barred style of politics. He earned the nickname “Rahmbo” during his long political career, including serving as White House chief of staff under President Obama and as an Illinois congressman.

“The polite term used by CNN for Rahm Emanuel’s latest outburst is ‘feisty,’ ” Kirsten Boyd Johnson wrote in a post on Wonkette on July 22.

Still, privacy in school choice appears to be the new mantra for politicians across both aisles. Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently told a radio caller that it was none of her business where his children attend school, according a June 16 article in the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Not everyone is as open as Monik about Mayor Emanuel’s decision. Robert Hackett-Bradley, 17, a senior at King College Prep, disagrees.

"He seems like a hypocrite,” says Hackett-Bradley, who has attended public school all his life. “He claims to want to try and change public schools, but why not do this and then send his kids to those schools to show people the progress he is making towards better educational systems in public schools? If he wants the best for his children, why can't that best be in public schools that he intends to change for the better? No, it wouldn’t be to make a point; it would be just as good as private schools, unless he does not intend to do what he said he would do--that would make private schools the better option."

Emanuel’s decision, however, is playing out positively among many others who support school choice, especially a sophomore currently attending the Lab, 15-year-old Leah Barber.

“As mayor, Rahm Emanuel's decision to send his kids to private school blatantly reaffirms the dismal state of Chicago's public schools,” Barber said. “Emanuel's children are elementary school-age and would be sent to neighborhood schools, so we aren't talking about magnet or selective enrollment schools here. It's a comment on how bad Chicago's neighborhood schools have gotten that not even the mayor will send his kids to one. However, these are private decisions, and as a parent, he shouldn't sacrifice his children's education for the sake of his image."