Comments on: A job I wouldn’t want in a million years….

By: cpsobsessed

cpsobsessed — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:47:24 +0000

Ack! If anyone sees other news, please post.
I’ve actually always said that if they made everyone attend their neighborhood school then parents might be more motivated to improve then since they have no chance to bail (except for private.)
This should be interesting….
The news is full of stories about school districts making drastic cuts.

By: hopeful

hopeful — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:16:35 +0000

My father just emailed me with the news. Huberman did make his announcement and it isn’t good. Talking about a lot of stuff, including a line about saving nearly 50 million dollars if they got rid of magnets and gifted schools.

By: hopeful

hopeful — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Anyone know when Huberman is going to make his big announcement? He is supposed to soon. He will talk about what is getting cut and how it will affect teachers, kids, and families.

By: hopeful

hopeful — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:39:19 +0000

The state is cutting 10% of what it normally funds to education this year. This was written about in the Naperville Sun recently and a link to the article can be found at Catalyst Chicago. Someone compared the teacher lay offs in the Plainfield School district to CPS. Plainfield had to lay off 5% of its teaching staff. If Chicago laid off 5% of its staff, that would be 2000 teachers gone, just like that. Whatever happens this fall is not going to be good.

By: ChiGuy

ChiGuy — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:39:53 +0000

Obviously the biggest challenge that Huberman faces is the budget crisis at CPS. However, something that rarely gets discussed is that a large part of the budget crisis that CPS faces is due to the creation of TIF districts created by Mayor Daley and City Council that siphon off property taxes that would otherwise go to the schools (and other entities). Recent figures estimate that the various TIF districts siphon off over $500 million of our property taxes EACH YEAR. The monies go into a slush fund that the Mayor gets to control for whatever projects he deems fit – with virtually no transparency or oversight on how the money is spent. Given the current budget crisis, the failure to challenge Daley on this issue is irresponsible both on the part of Huberman and the Board of Education. But because they are appointed by the Mayor – and therefore owe their jobs to him – they will never raise this issue.

By: cpsobsessed

cpsobsessed — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:28:07 +0000

CP – good point about the selection process.. and I’m sure that point is lost on a lot of people who don’t obsess about the process.
I’m sure the violence thing is the equivalent of Mayor Daily and the snow issue… that one element makes the city look bad and could get him booted from his job. Just such a waste of education money…. sigh.

By: chicago parent

chicago parent — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:08:32 +0000

I can’t think of a more thankless job than Huberman’s. Maybe I’m just crankier (actually there is little doubt that I am) than you, but spending $60 million on anti violence initiative seems like a tremendously large and wasteful distraction from the school system’s core mission of education. One good thing that Huberman did was take the student selection process out of principals’ hands (for the most part). This change, largely lost in the greater story of new socio-economic selection criteria and new rules for magnet schools removed a lot of under the table dealings and will make for a fairer system.

By: hopeful

hopeful — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:19:07 +0000

I am not sure principals really have that much time in the day. Most principals I have known, and that includes a dozen or so, stay into the very late hours working (way past dinner time, often until 10 at night) and are usually working at the school on the weekend too. CPS is famous for having pointless meetings that last a long time–think of every single professional development day! Nothing helpful happens at those, I can’t imagine someone coming in to “develop” principals would be helpful either.
Sharing what works and reducing isolation is great! If it really does that. But, my experience with ANYTHING that EVER comes from central office has been that it is NEVER helpful, and NEVER works. At least not in all the years I have been teaching. But who knows? Maybe in the last year something has changed?
I do agree with the poster, the heckler, that parents must be as accountable as parents and kids. Personally, if a child does not behave and does not do their work and cooperate, I see nothing wrong with requiring parents to sit right next to their desk for as long as it takes to get the needed results. Parents might have to miss work, but hey, if that is what it takes, so be it. I just talked yesterday to a teacher friend in a bad school who is basically spends her whole day being a policeman rather than a teacher. And people wonder why scores aren’t going up and why half of all teachers leave the profession in 3 years or less!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:57:15 +0000

Being held accountable is always a “royal pain in the butt”.

By: the heckler

the heckler — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:23:07 +0000

I’d take that job tomorrow and the 2 cars that come with it. I’ve worked as a volunteer with Duncan’s and now Huberman’s CPS to know that common sense there is all but lost. It wouldn’t take much to run this sinking ship afloat again. I’d staff up with a few parents like myself (and you) who have gained much for their children’s educations w/o the help of downtown or the state. I’d expect parents to take responsibility for their children’s actions and well being and that teachers and principals do their jobs….EDUCATION comes from the home and school.

And this is my comment on that 60 million…