Archive for July, 2010
School Fees aka Book Fees
One new way that schools are raising a little extra money is through an annual fee. It’s called a school fee, student fee, or book fee.
Well, this seems relatively new in Chicago, but it seems to be pretty standard in the suburban world (meaning the entire country’s suburbs, not just ours.)
The concept is that the school needs to buy disposable materials every year for the students and that the families need to cover that cost.
My son’s school just sent out a matter of fact letter that the fee will be $100. Ouch! That kind of hurts coming off buying what is usually $60+ in school supplies, new backback and lunchbox, clothes. All the random toys I buy my son when we’re out shopping for the aforementioned items. (Although wait, am I the same mom who shelled out $8K per year for Montessori preschool and now I’m screaming about a $100 fee!?)
One thing that interests/amuses me about the $100 fee is that when I was on the LSC at my neighborhood school last year we decided to add a school fee to cover all the one-time-usage workbooks that must be purchased every year (btw, this is a scam perpetuated by the education publishing companies who use it as their cash cow.) Oh, the debate that took place. We truly spent hours discussing whether the school feel would freak people out, offend them, make families feel self conscious if they couldn’t pay it, discussed the wording, offered a volunteer option instead (time vs money.) We had an interesting discussion about what % of families would pay different dollar amounts? (Do you get more people paying if you go with $40 rather than $50? Which would generate the most total $?) What about families with 3+ kids? It was an interesting discussion about the psychology of pricing, family pride, fairness, etc.
We called other local schools to inquire about their school fees. They ranged from $25 – $100. Of course the fee can in no way be required. It is just “suggested.” And collection probably depends on whether someone has the time to remind/hound/guilt people into paying. The clerk at (I think) Decatur told me she makes it her mission and gets 95% compliance. Impressive!
In the end, my local school went with a sliding scale with a volunteer option and wording to make you feel like you were still a good person if you couldn’t pay. That’s why it humors me a bit that my son’s school just dropped the $100 fee on us without (seemingly) the blink of any eye. I think it’s a good tactic though. The school is in Tier 4 and I think people whose kids get into the gifted programs can be expected to shell out $100 per year. And it won’t come close to what the school is losing in funding this year, due to the loss of lower income students.
But yes, I will still grumble the day I write that check.
Pre-School for All – How does one apply?
A reader writes in… (is that line from the old Roseanne RoseannaDanna SNL skit?) (for those of you old enough to remember, that is.)
Anyhow, got this note today and I figured since it takes a village to figure out CPS, perhaps we can all join in to help this guy out…
I have a 4 1/2 and a 3 year old daughters and we live in the city and we are trying to figure out the CPS game. I was wondering if you had any ideas on how the free Pre-K for all enrollment works. I know is is based on income. However, it seems like there are more factors then just income. Also, I know that there are waiting lists at schools for spots. How would I go about making sure both my daughters got in at the same school and the same class? Any thoughts on how that would work?
Well, to start off, nobody knows how much longer Pre-K for all will be around. Funding was retained this year and frankly I’m not quite sure why since CPS is so broke. In the past, the free PreK (called State Pre-K) was used almost exclusively by families with kids who were considered “at risk” in some way. That could be financial or developmental. It was supposedly pretty easy to get your child in… for instance I was told that by having an only child I could convince CPS that he had socialability needs that needed addressing, etc. But it wasn’t all that popular with families who didn’t have “at risk” kids.
Once our pal Rod Blago instituted Pre-School for All (great idea, just no money to fund it, Rod!) it became the hottest ticket in town. Who wouldn’t want 5-day a week free play-based PreK just steps from their home? Suddenly the programs were overrun with applicants. Depending on the neighborhood, many kids applying are not high risk at all, but they do qualify.
Here is my understanding of the program:
-Kid who are at risk still get priority (financial or physical or mental etc)
-The principals seem to decide how to prioritize who gets in and there doesn’t seem to be an official CPS policy (for instance some give neighborhood kids priority, some give 4-year-olds priority.)
-Much of it depends on how many classes the school has. My neighborhood school has 2 classes. My son’s school has 6 classes. Big difference.
-Not every school has PKFA. For instance Bell does not have room for it.
-Living in a neighborhood does not in any way guarantee you a spot in the local PKFA as it does for Kindergarten. (Which has been a source of apparent rage in many neighborhoods.)
And here are some of the challenges:
- Because there are so many applicants chomping at the bit, the principal is up against a wall to figure out who gets the spots. Early. However in theory they should be saving some spots for kids who are truly at risk but come in to the school to register in the summer. Those are the kids who really NEED those preK spots. But I’m not sure whether principals ARE indeed saving spots. Or how they would know how many to save.
-Principals have to decide whether to prioritize siblings of kids who may live out of district. Many schools have kids in older grades who’re out of district and of course the parents want all the kids at the same school. That causes problems.
How it usually works:
As far as I can tell, there is a bit of anarchy here. Each school does it differently and begins to take applications for the following school year at some point in the spring of the previous year. The principal then has their pool of applicants and has to decide who gets the spots. Some may do first come/first served. Others may use their priority scheme. I don’t *think* there is any CPS standard for this. And parents can apply to as many as they want.
So, answer the freakin’ question already, lady! (Ok, ok!)
For whatever school/s you’re targeting, I would get in there about a week after school starts (give them a week to settle down or they’ll hate you for bothering them) and inquire as to their specific process of admission. Keep asking until you get a firm answer (this could take a few tries and you might even get different answers!) Confirm your knowledge with other parents to up the chance that you have correct information. Get your application in as soon as they say you can. confirm that they have your application in the right pile/place/folder. Continue to “maintain a dialogue” (nice way of saying staying on their butt) to let them know of your interst in a nice, flattering way. Ask whether they have a priorty scheme and what it is to determine whether your 3yo has a shot at getting in (so you know whether to have back-up.) Continue to monitor the waiting list progress without being a pain (since you’ll have to suck up to get both kids in the same class.) Wait until next year’s budget comes out to determine whether PKFA will exist next year. Ponder whether you should apply to any private schools just in case.
God, this is getting comical. (And long.)
However I think it might be an accurate representation. I haven’t actually gone through the process though.
Can anyone else help me out here? Does your school do it differently? Any tips for this guy?
And as Roseanne RosannaDanna (played by Gilda Radner) would end her little speech, “It’s always something… “
Replacing Barbara Eason-Watkins
Barbara has been the Chief Education Officer of CPS since 2001. Apparently she has taken a job as the superintendent for Michigan City Area Schools (Indiana.) Yeah, way to go Barbara! She was sort of the CEO of education while Arne/Ron have been the more on the business end of things, I guess. Arne had more of an education background than Ron did though. I have no idea whether she did well in her job or not. It’s hard to determine when you’re facing a system like CPS. I suppose any small improvements are really major accomplishments. HAS CPS seen small improvements since 2001? I’m not even sure how to assess that.
In any case, the search is on for her replacement.
A reader sent this link in that talk about Mayor Daley’s top contender being a white woman from with a private school background. Which begs several questions (not necessarily my own questions, but questions nonetheless.)
-When CPS is only 9% white or so, should a white woman get one of the top spots?
-Isn’t there SOMEONE in CPS right now who is visionary enough but also knows the system well enough to make a difference?
-Shouldn’t some people from outside the city be considered? i.e. Total outsiders who can shake things up a bit more and aren’t tied to any local political drama.
-Can someone with private school experience relate that to a system like CPS where there is a ton of low income families, huge bureaucracy, funding problems galore, etc, etc. It seems a bit like fantasy to imagine that one could take their kick-ass private school skills and make them work in CPS. I wish it seemed likely, but just am not sure.
-Can someone totally amazing / visionary really make an impact on our struggling District 299? That is one tough job.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/2484150,CST-NWS-daley10.article
On another note, having gained experience in CPS, I hope B.E.W. blows them away in Michigan City. Go Barbara!
Raise Your Hand Facebook Page
If you haven’t heard of this group of parents who are mobilizing to get the funding issues in CPS addressed (and in all of Illinois as we have a statewide problem) you can join their Facebook page here. It’s a great way to stay in touch with other like-minded people and to get updates about what they’re doing to fight the fight and see how you can help.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117581168258426
Here is their home page:
http://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/content/raise-your-hand-illinois-public-education
Back in the land of the living…
No, not CPS. Me.
For those wondering if I’d dropped off the face of the earth, I’ve been completely submerged in work for the past 2+ months.
To relate my personal situation (or actually my boss’s situation) 2 months ago her toddler son had a typical late winter cough that lasted for 3 weeks. The coughing was so severe that he ended up with a hernia (which I guess isn’t uncommon in young kids.) Their doctor told them to wait the weekend, then come in for the routine surgery but things when awry from there. He ended up rupturing part of his intestine which lead to more complicated surgery. The surgery lead to extreme infection which they couldn’t locate for over a month. Twice he came close to death and the parents were forced into that situation we all dread of being at the edge of the abyss, wondering whether they’d plunge in. Each time, disaster was marginally avoided. Finally, the doctors managed to find the infection hidden deep inside and actually sucked it out of him. Within days he went from near-death to a thriving, bouncing, high-fiving toddler. It was a miraculous recovery.
So I, just a few months into a new job have been helping cover for her and sort of floundering my way through work stuff I’m not quite familiar with. Plus we had 37 days of horrible worry about her son. Overall, it’s been a long stressful couple months.
I’m passing the story on just in case any of you are ever in a similar situation (painful hernia… don’t wait to get to a doctor!) And as a reminder of how lucky we are when we have healthy kids.
So my boss is finally back and things have calmed down… so I can finally get started writing about CPS again. Thanks to everyone for keeping the posts going and sending me articles, etc.
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