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HEARING: Von Humboldt/ Duprey parents continue their struggle against closing

Tm Meegan - April 26, 2013

So yesterday, April 24, 2013, was my 9th wedding anniversary, but instead of heading home I went downtown to 125 S. Clark St, to offer my support for von Humboldt and Duprey elementary schools, which are scheduled to be closed and combined into another school.

The slow destruction of Von Humboldt Elementary School (above) has been orchestrated by CPS over the course of half a decade by the CPS expansion of charter schools in the area. Once the charter schools are nearby a real public school, the CPS "New Schools" office (whatever its name at the time...) provide the charter "edrepreneurs" with the names and addresses of the highest scoring children in the real public school. Then the charter school sends its marketing people to recruit the children who had been attending the real public school, often using home visits and persistent marketing techniques. Substance photo by David Vance. The two schools occupy the Von Humboldt building, on Hirsch in East Humboldt Park. This was based on the agreement made by CPS several years ago, when CPS was closing Roque de Duprey and the Board agreed that the two schools, with their complete staffs, would move into the Von Humbold building. Both schools are "Level 2" schools “on the rise.” Both schools will be closed into de Diego, increasing enrollment there to 1,200.

Von Humboldt is a small school by design, and they have gone to great lengths to keep class sizes to about 15, which is one of their reasons for success. Parents and teachers came by school bus to the downtown hearing and presented their plan to save their school, all in a large binder.

At the hearing three CPS officials spent the first hour presenting CEO Bennet’s case. They went on about their MBA credentials, the false utilization formula they were utilizing to claim that the Von Humboldt and Duprey schools were "underutilized." And they claimed that de Diego is a superior performing school according to their “value added” measures.

There were about 100 parents, students, and teachers present. Everyone got only two minutes to speak. I spoke about the fact that enrollment dropped at this school three years ago when they opened Erie charter just two blocks away, about how the closings are motivated by privatization and profit, not educational outcomes. I noted that the higher performance of de Diego was statistically insignificant, and the experience of the three CPS officials who had testified earlier had combined experience that was less than my nine years in the system. Based upon my experience with CPS, the promises they were making regarding support for the “transition” would not materialize.

I was cut off and had to finish making my point at the end of the meeting.

The Erie Charter School was deployed to undermine the nearby public schools, to the point where by 2013 Von Humboldt Elementary School, one of the oldest and most famous in the community, could be declared "underutilized" by the mercenaries recruited by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to push the agenda of austerity and "underutilization" while preparing, again behind the scenes and greased by mendacity, to continue the expansion of the charter schools. Substance photo by David Vance.De Diego alderman “Proco” Joe Moreno spoke twice against the closings. Von Humboldt alderman Roberto Maldonado was not present. Wendy Katten spoke from Raise Your Hand along with another parent. Organizer Martin Ritter spoke on behalf of the Union.

Parents, teachers, and students spoke in support of their school. It was clear parents made a monumental effort to be there. One little girl was sick, sat in her mother’s lap and could not stop coughing. It was very difficult to watch parents and students crying, begging pitifully for CPS to keep their school open. They are begging to keep something that already belongs to them. CPS officials just sat there stone faced, apparently unmoved.

At 7:30, the room cleared out suddenly because the school bus came to take them back. A teacher had to explain to the “independent hearing officer” that people had to leave because they have no other way of getting home. Presently, poor and working people cannot afford to drive to the Loop and pay parking, and CTA fares for such a large number of people are also extremely high.

I told parents in the elevator that they should show up to their real school in the fall and let CPS drag them out of that building. I headed home, sad but determined to continue the fight to save these schools. I sent my son to bed, woke up my wife, and had a glass of champagne. I slept soundly knowing I had done what I could to support the teachers and parents who have it much worse than I do.

Last night was the final hearing for Von Humboldt and Duprey. They will be closed, unless we stop them.

For more information check out the links to these stories:

http://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/content/40-terrible-decisions-school-actions

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