Board meeting sign-up on November 12 for the November 20 Board meeting... Will Board of Ed listen next week? Ames parents wonder about promises made to them as they fight takeover by military school
Democracy, in theory, allows members of the public to speak and possibly influence government decisions that will affect their lives. The Chicago Board of Education still retains some vestiges of democracy, and at least one group of parents this month is testing whether the Board will live up to its promises and listen to them.
Ames continues the fight to maintain the integrity of the school, after proving that 26th Ward Alderman Roberto Maldonado does not represent a majority on the Ames issue. Maldonado and Mayor Rahm Emanuel continue to try to force military programs into Ames, while a growing number of community and school people make it clear that the community neither wants nor needs the "Marine Military Academy."On Tuesday, November 12, 2013, anyone who hopes to speak at this month’s open Board of Ed meeting needs to be at a computer at 8 a.m., signed on to the school board’s website: www.cpsboe.org
The first 60 people who register online will be admitted to the official Board meeting next week. The meeting is officially scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 20, at the Board’s headquarters, 125 S. Clark St. According to the Board, public participation at the meeting will end after two hours or all 60 registered participants have spoken – whichever comes first. As Substance has reported, for the past ten months public participation has always begun late (at times almost by one o'clock). And the number of "No Shows" (people who sign up but aren't there when their names are called) has never been fewer than 20.
This online registration to speak replaces a former policy where people came to headquarters early in the morning on the day of the meeting, and stood in line to sign up for a chance to speak to the Board.
For several years, since mayoral control began in 1995, the amount of public participation allowed at Board meetings has been gradually reduced.
One group of public school parents that intends to be heard at this month’s Board meeting comes from Ames Middle School, in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood of Logan Square on Chicago’s West Side. They oppose a plan to place the selective enrollment Marine Military Academy high school into their neighborhood school at 1920 N. Hamlin Ave. The plan was endorsed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a news conference two weeks ago.
After protests, the mayor softened his support for the plan, indicating that maybe the middle school could remain in part of the school building next year, along with a military-themed high school (not necessarily Marine Academy) in another part of the building. And a representative of the Board of Ed came to speak with Ames supporters at an open meeting of the Ames Local School Council last week.
Todd Connor, executive director of Chicago Public Schools’ Service Leadership Programs (i.e., the Board’s six military high schools) assured the people who attended the Ames LSC meeting that the Board would listen to them. He declined to say whether they would be allowed to speak at the Board meeting if they weren’t among the first 60 who sign up at the online speaker registration site.
Connor said he would bring people’s comments and concerns to the Board’s attention. Connor’s email address is tconnor@cps.edu. The phone number at Connor’s 10th floor Board of Ed office is 773-553-1186.
Scoffing at Connor’s promises to help the Ames community get their voices heard by the Board, Margaret Huebner, who is a teacher at Ames and a member of the LSC, pointed to a broken promise made a few months ago by Board President David Vitale, when he said the Board had already decided NOT to bring a military academy to Ames. Huebner also questioned the value of any promises made by Connor, Vitale or other members of the mayor’s Board of Ed, since few of them seem to stay in any administrative job at Clark Street for more than two years.
Offering another way to influence the Board, Connor said that elected officials are allowed to speak at Board of Ed meetings without going through the online sign-up. At least one elected official has issued public statements (and spoken to the Ames LSC) in favor of keeping Ames as a neighborhood middle school, and against inserting a military high school: Illinois State Senator William Delgado (whose 2nd District includes the Logan Square neighborhood).
Members of the public may also try influencing decisions through petitions. There is an online petition urging the Chicago Board of Education NOT to turn Ames into a military school. The petition can be accessed at:
http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/stand-with-logan-square
[David R. Stone, a Substance reporter, teaches at Ames].
