Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman to step down

[marmar]

from the Sun-Times:



Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has told Mayor Daley he has no intention of serving another mayor and intends to leave his $230,000-a-year job long before the mayor leaves office in mid-May.

Huberman's departure could mean Daley would have to turn over the nation's third-largest school system in the middle of the school year to a caretaker schools chief who would be replaced by yet another schools chief after a new mayor is seated.

All this threatens to occur over a critical set of months when CPS traditionally devises its budget, prepares for state tests and decides which schools to close. It must tackle these tasks with an administrative staff decimated by budget cuts, teachers left disgruntled by cost-saving layoffs, and the specter of even worse budget woes next school year.

In addition, news of Huberman's planned departure comes after CPS has languished for months without a chief education officer. The No. 2 job has been vacant since June 30, when Barbara Eason-Watkins left to run the 7,000-student district in Michigan City, Ind., where she owns a second home. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2776436,CST-NWS-huberman06.article

[Tatiana]

1. Oh happy day................. n/t

[madfloridian]

2. Right after his loss in court over the fired teachers.

And just as he cut off the gas to the parents wanting the library in the field house.

http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/more-on-the-ctu-court-victory-this-afternoon/

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6788

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Let's add more uncertainty to the process, hooray!

I get that a lot of you have abstract ideological stakes in the fate of the Chicago Public School system.

My wife and I, on the other hand, are dealing with the labyrinthine process of preparing our four-year old for August 2011 kindergarten, and - ahem - no, she will NOT be going to our neighborhood district school (I did enough time in inner city schools in NYC for the whole family for generations, thankyaverymuch). So, we've been going to open houses and info sessions all fall, as you can imagine.

So, yes, thanks to a lot of you for your concern about the Chicago public schools. Please enjoy your own municipality.

[marmar]

4. Huh? ..... Is there a law against posting an article?

The Daft level around here is off the charts sometimes.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Who said there was?

What are you even talking about?

[madfloridian]

5. Chicago foreshadows what will happen through the country.

An "experiment" that Obama allowed Arne to take public....and that is the business of ALL of us.

I will keep fighting back against "reformers" like Huberman and Duncan as long as I can.

He fired all those tenured teachers, and he lost in court....yet he is planning to appeal to keep them fired.

[Tatiana]

7. Public Schools should not be run like a business. Period.

I'm sorry you seem to be having a difficult time finding a school for your soon-to-be kindergarten daughter. Depending on where you live, there are several selective enrollment and magnet schools located throughout the city. By the way, have you asked yourself why your neighborhood school is not up to your standards? Have you gone to your neighborhood school, met the principal and teaching staff and discussed the curriculum? Or have you just written it off like Ron Huberman likely did?

I've both attended and worked in Chicago Public Schools. My mother has taught in CPS for almost 30 years (and for the archdioscese beforoe that). I have never seen professional staff treated so UNprofessionally in my life and my mother is taking early retirement to get out of this mismanaged system. Children have become commodities to be packed into overcrowded classrooms that don't even have enough desks or seats in them. Teachers no longer have the freedom to teach critical thinking skills the way they used to and Daley's wonderful solution to getting students more instructional time is to to extend the school day and sit students in front of a computer for another 2 hours or so. That's not teaching our students. What about the special ed students who need assistive technology or cross-cat certified teachers? Oh well, guess they'll just have to sit in front of the monitor and shut up.

Chicago deserves an ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD and a real SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS with a BACKGROUND IN EDUCATION who will make decisions based on what is best for our students and communities.

If you want schools run like a business, there are plenty of charters to choose from that are academically inferior to the regular public options.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. I'm not having a difficult time

I'm having the same time as everybody else. The district school is shit. I'll leave it to others to figure out why. My concern is keeping my kids out of it.

[Tatiana]

11. While it has gotten worse under corporate leadership, CPS still has fantastic schools.

There are many great schools your child can attend. Jackson Language Academy (on Harrison St.) is one. Skinner classical (near north) is another. I trusted my own child to these schools and I actually attended Jackson before it moved to its newer location on Harrison.

Jackson: http://www.jackson.cps.k12.il.us/
Skinner: http://www.skinnersuperstars.org/

I know the system can be difficult to navigate, but I'd be more than willing to to help if you'd like. Just PM me.

[AngryAmish]

12. But, by and large, CPS is complete shit

Lottery for the magnets, testing for the gifted and classical schools. Lil AA goes to kindergarten in two years. I would like to stay in the city. So I either pony up for catholic school (and my wife hates catholics), get lil AA into a gifted or classical school, or I have to move. Fun, isn't it?

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Zactly

:thumbsup:

[Tatiana]

15. That is partly the case now, but it wasn't always like this.

Hopefully, if we bring some sort of sanity to this system (meaning, we hire an education officer with a real background in education and classroom experience), our schools will get better.

When I went to Chicago public schools the process was a lot better/easier. Most schools were at least decent and a good portion were excellent. Now, under the corporate model, a system of "tiers" have been set up that is exactly as you describe. I couldn't send my daughter to a neighborhood school, so I paid for Catholic school for a couple of months until I could get my daughter into one of the selective enrollment schools. Yes, it sucked and this process is not fun. But it sucks so much because our school system is being run like a business and not a public service in which ALL students are entitled to and should receive a quality education.

[AngryAmish]

16. I'm 41. In my lifetime CPS has been utter shit.

Does the name Ben Wilson ring a bell?

It has been used for generations as a political dumping ground and patronage army. This is way before this "corporate" model that evokes so much bellyaching around here.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. We are experts on the school situation and choices by now

I've been to more open houses for CPS schools in the last six weeks than I care to discuss. We've been tracking every available piece of information for a year. We desperately do not want to move out of the city, but I won't send my children to gang schools, and I won't roll the dice on whether a small group of parents can improve this one. We'll go at the gifted and magnet schools like anyone else. if that doesn't work, Oak Park (blech). Every city has great schools. It's the 8,000 other kids vying for the 28 spots that's the problem. :-)

Thanks for the help, though.

[AngryAmish]

17. yeh, Oak Park or River Forest for us too

Oak Park people are the biggest busybodies. River Forest are just rich. More friends in RF, so I guess we go there.

[Starry Messenger]

6. k & r

[Peregrine Took]

8. I heard he's denying it now. Puts the Sun TImes in a bad position. n/t