Posts filed under ‘High school’
Lake View High School to select a new principal
I heard about this a couple weeks ago – that LVHS will be choosing a new principal very soon. Got this today from the North Side HS Initiative:
The Lake View High School Principal Forum is scheduled for the evening of Monday, June 6 at Lake View High School. The three candidates for principal will attend the ”meet and greet” from 6:00-7:00 and the forum will begin at 7:00. Please share this information. Hope to see you there.
I think this is really exciting. Nothing against the current admin, who I know absolutely nothing about, but since I suspect I am a bit of Reformer at heart, I like the idea of the school getting reinvigorated. Or maybe it is the corporate drone in me who buys into the idea of “new management signals a change in strategy” as a way to build interest in the company (uh, or school.)
I’m trying to find out whether the current Asst Principal is on the short list, as well as who else might be. I’ve heard there might be interest in getting some new blood in the place (from a current teacher) but it can be difficult for an LSC to NOT choose an existing staff member unless there is a real commitment to change.
I still haven’t gotten filled in on the last meeting (although I offered a friend a beer if he would write up some notes – the offer stands for any of you who attend a meeting!) He did tell me that he feels the school may be at the tipping point.
The Trib also ran this article today. That is some good PR for a neighborhood HS for a change.
‘Best kept secret on the North Side’
Lake View High seeks prestigious science, math program
(by Erin Calandriello, Special to the Tribune)
Mark Morgan, a junior at Lake View High School on Chicago’s North Side, does not come from a wealthy background. So his parents didn’t have the money to pay for private school.
Initially, Morgan, 17, didn’t think a neighborhood school would be challenging or rewarding. But after attending Lake View, he found otherwise. “After attending Lake View, I realized that neighborhood schools are just as good as private schools and magnet schools,” he said. Morgan cited extracurricular activities including band, mock trial, art club and sports teams along with the wide selection of Advanced Placement courses that Lake View offers students.
Now, administrators and teachers hope to enrich the 1,550-student school’s offerings by starting a STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — program. The advanced program, which is offered at other high schools in the Chicago area and across the nation, engages students in projects and independent research on a large scale, said Vyjayanti Joshi, who has been a biology teacher at Lake View for seven years and is the chairwoman of the science department.
Assistant Principal Carolyn Eggert and her colleagues said that if they could improve their science labs and add the STEM program to the curriculum, the school’s reputation would improve; mentors from the neighborhood would take students under their wings; companies would donate money and time to the school; the caliber of students would increase; and more neighborhood parents would view Lake View as a good choice for their children.
The school’s administration is asking Chicago Public Schools to match the $2 million raised with the help of a local alderman to pay for the STEM program and improve laboratories, Eggert said. “We need millions of dollars in capital improvement funds,” she said, noting that selective enrollment schools such as Walter Payton College Prep have received strong financial support for new facilities.
CPS has yet to release its budget to Lake View for the coming academic year.
Strengthening the offerings at Lake View High School would improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, Eggert said. “We are the best kept secret on the North Side of Chicago, but we are limited in what we can do,” she said.
Eight out of the nine science labs at Lake View are below CPS standards, Eggert said. The lab desks are nailed to the floor, and the school doesn’t have the money to provide necessary safety equipment like eye flushes and goggles.
Basic science supplies such as Bunsen burners, petri dishes, flasks and cylinders are in short supply, Eggert said.
Students said they are frustrated by the limited science options. They said they have had to skip labs because of a lack of equipment. The lack of resources also means they have had to share new pieces of equipment and computers, which means lessons that should take one day to finish are stretched over two days, the students said.
“There is such a limitation on what we can do,” Joshi said. “So many parents don’t want to send their kids to a magnet school, but we need to expand our rigor to keep them here. … We need the space and tools so we can better prepare them for postsecondary education.”
Eggert agreed. “We cannot advertise the STEM program if we don’t have a state-of-the-art science lab, where students can engage in expansive research. We cannot analyze data if we cannot collect it,” she said.
But despite these problems, students and teachers said they are proud of their school. “There is no reason to pay too much money to get a good education because you can get a great education at a local neighborhood school,” said senior William Bazan, 18, who is from the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the city’s Northwest Side and who has been enrolled in Lake View’s Math Science and Technology Academy throughout his high school career.
“Before I came here, I was just interested in mechanical work, and now I’m interested in mechanical and electrical engineering,” said Bazan, who plans to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “It opened up my mind to what I could do.”
The teachers work hard to help students, said Melissa Lara, 17, a junior who is interested in the arts. “The teachers are great. They actually care — and that’s what matters the most,” Lara said.
The school opens its doors Saturdays to provide ACT tutoring, Eggert said. The average ACT score at Lake View is about a 20, which is “in line” with schools like Lane Tech College Prep High School, she said. About 41 percent of those who took an Advanced Placement test for college credit in 2010 passed it with a score of 3 or higher, Eggert said.
“It’s OK to go to your neighborhood school,” said Melissa Zagorski, a 15-year veteran physics teacher at Lake View. “I think magnet schools purposely put us down to build themselves up and make neighborhood schools seem like a last resort, but we’re not.”
Morgan agreed. “When you’re in grade school, everyone says make sure you apply to magnet schools like Lane Tech because you don’t want to end up at schools like Lake View,” he said. “But the bad reputation they have — it’s not true. They might not have the best equipment or laptops for every student, but the kids care and the teachers want you to learn. If I could advertise, I would say, come here.”
Meeting at Lake View High School tonight
Just got word there is a meeting at Lake View High School tonight that could be interesting for anyone with young kids in that district. Not sure that I can make it, but I’ll follow up to see if I can find out what transpires. Good to see that people are meeting and talking. I have also found out that the school will be selecting a new principal soon, which could be vital in the invigoration efforts there.
Tuesday, May 17 at 7pm at Lake View High School: Hear from a panel including Alderman Tom Tunney and Alderman Scott Waguespack as they address ongoing plans to improve the academic and physical structure of Lake View High School. This meeting is open to the public. Parents with grade school-aged children are encouraged to attend.
High School 2nd Round Letters
2nd round SE high school letters were supposedly mailed out on Monday 3/21. Post the news here….
Get to know the North Side High School Initiative group
Not sure if anyone remembers my New Year’s resolution for 2011: To get in touch with the North Side High School Initiative group to see what they’re up to/about. As January came to a close I hadn’t yet made a move, nor had I been flossing more often (other resolution.) But as luck would have it, someone from the North Side HSI got in touch with me. Not sure the dental floss is going to make quite the same effort.
So here is the lowdown on this group:
The group was formed by some parents whose kids are in a parochial school together, but like all of us, are looking ahead towards high school and wondering how we can expand some options. The parents who founded the group are in the Lake View high school district. As we know, there’s been some renewed emphasis on that school lately. The city has hired the ex Bell principal as a consultant to help LVHS flourish and find a way to attract a greater share of neighborhood kids (in particular, those who don’t get into a selective high school or might not prefer the rigor of one of those schools or might not want to travel across the city to get to school.)
So currently, there are parents in the Lake View district who are starting to connect with the school to see what some next steps are to increase community involvement (which as many of have learned is often correlated with a school’s success.)
The NSHSI group hopes to act as a central hub of parents from a range of neighborhoods who might also be working to improve their neighborhood high schools. Or possibly parents who might want to try to get another SE high school added to the north side (as a note, this is not their current objective) But the beauty of the idea is twofold:
Information-sharing
It makes total sense for parents of multiple schools to work together to share ideas and options and resources, etc rather than having each school reinvent the wheel. It feels a bit daunting a job to undertake but the more schools can learn from each other, the better.
Power in numbers
There are some efforts that may require a lot of parents lobbying CPS together, so a “central group” would be vital in organizing these efforts.
The group is currently waiting for the new mayor and CPS admin to be put in place to plan their next move. But I’m hoping that we can have some discussions here about some ideas, issues, suggestions, etc that might help the group to grow and figure out how to make an impact.
I think it’s important to point out that they’re not a group of parents who are here to “fix things” or do all the dirty work for us. I see them as more of a central hub for parents of schools around the north side (or other parts of the city) to connect.
I’ll have some more posts coming soon where we can discuss some possibilities for how/if neighborhood high schools can be made more appealing to a wider range of parents and what steps might need to happen to get the ball rolling.
In the meantime, I’d encourage you to Like their Facebook page. The more parents who are members will show the new mayor that a lot of parents are concerned about this issue.
NSHSI Facebook Page
More to come….
High School Principal Discretion Period Now Open 2011
CPS has opened the principal discretion process so parents can make one final push to get their child into the school of their choice.
There is an application and even a handbook on how to complete the process:
http://cpsmagnet.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=72698&type=d&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=121674&hideMenu=1
Applications are due March 18.
From cpsmagnet.org:
The Magnet and Selective Enrollment Schools and Programs Admissions Policy allows principals of Selective Enrollment High Schools to exercise a five percent discretion in the selection of incoming freshmen students through a centralized process. The Principal Discretion process allows principals of Selective Enrollment High Schools to select these students through an application process that takes into consideration such areas as student awards and honors, letters of recommendation, and a personal statement written by the student.
I was surprise this year to see parents discussing making an appeal to their child’s top choice school (over the 2nd or 3rd choice where they gained admission.) I used to assume that the appeal was geared to kids who didn’t get in anywhere, but I suppose it makes sense to vie for the school you really want. I assume there are two types of appeal: A child who is otherwise academically successful but blew one of the tests, and a child who may not be an academic superstar but has shown commitment in some other area (sports, music, etc.)
Feel free to share stories/questions/updates here.
I know this link was included in a comment in another post, but it’s pretty interesting to see that some of the principals are trying to keep the SE high schools more “elite” in terms of admission scores. I have to wonder if they’re concerned about having to teach a broader range of student skill sets and/or if they’re worried about seeing a decline in their test scores (which seems more important now than ever.)
Sun Times story:
The window to apply for “principal picks’’ at the city’s nine elite public high schools opens Friday amid a new agreement that principals weigh in on any overhaul of admissions at their schools.
Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner last week led a contingent of principals who convinced Interim Schools CEO Terry Mazany to include them early on in any talk of altering a new selection process tied to census tracts and socio-economic factors, rather than race. As a result, principals have been asked to give Mazany recommendations on better ways to admit kids to the city’s most selective high schools by mid-May.
Under the current system, now in its second year, Kenner said, “Our African-American numbers are way down, but they are way down across all schools. It has drastically affected diversity….
“It’s a flawed system. We have to come up with a different way to do things.’’
So far this season, Kenner also said, Young applicants in the richest census tracts have been “penalized’’ while “students with much lower scores are getting in.’’
All nine elite college preps saw lower first-round test scores accepted from kids in the poorest census tracts this year, with Northside College Prep seeing the biggest drop among that group — from a mimimum 850 test score accepted last year to 792 this year. A perfect score is 900. Meanwhile, overall, the highest first-round scores accepted increased at eight of nine college preps.
That led to huge score variations. Lane, Lindblom and King saw more than 200-point differences among the lowest and highest scores accepted. The spread at Brooks was 350 points.
However, CPS officials cautioned that several tweaks to this year’s processs — including 1,000 more first-round offers — could have produced wider score disparities in the first round. The real test, they said, will be how scores and diversity shake out at the conclusion of all rounds of offers. Some schools had four rounds last year.
Even if more lower-scoring students are admitted, “We have complete confidence in these schools’ ability to help these kids succeed,’’ said Katie Ellis, the system’s elite-admission pointperson.
At King College Prep, fewer African Americans were offered first-round seats this year, but in the 95-percent black school, that means diversity should increase, said Principal Jeff Wright.
However, principals want to see how test scores, race and socio-economic factors shake out at all nine college preps — not just their schools. Said Wright: “Just going ahead with a policy because we have a policy is not something we endorse.”
Friday is the deadline for students to act on first-round offers as well as the first day rejected students can apply to college preps as “principal picks,’’ based on artistic talent, civic work or other factors. “Principal pick” applications are due March 18.
SE High School Scores – This year vs. last year 2011
I’ve gotten some interesting analysis and POVs from 2 different blog readers that I’d like to share.
The first is some information from Selective Prep (a test prep service) about the shift in scores needed for SE entry and what it might mean for kids entering high school in the next few years.
The second is from a blog reader, Peter Bernstein, an economic consultant who teaches at DePaul and is the parent of a CPS student. I’ve attempted to imbed his nice tables but I know the 2nd once looks small. If you can squint, it’s pretty interesting.
Thanks to both for some thought-provoking data!
From SelectivePrep:
Admissions scores decline as more students are admitted by tier
This year average admissions scores at nearly all Selective Enrollment High Schools declined. Lane Tech, Young, Payton, and Northside College Prep saw declines of 12, 10, 8, and 6 points respectively. This decline comes after years of successive and often significant point increases.
This decrease in scores was precipitated by a change in CPS’ admissions policy. In November 2010, CPS changed the admissions formula from a 40%/60% Rank/Tier mix to a 30%/70% Rank/Tier mix. Students are admitted in the Rank category if they have the highest scores, regardless of their socio-economic Tier; while students in Tiers are admitted on the basis of their scores in comparison with other students in that Tier. This change effectively increased the percentage of students admitted in each Tier from 15% to 17.5%. While the scores of Tier 3 and Tier 4 students admitted to the most competitive schools increased or were flat, this was more than offset by an increased number of students from Tiers 1 and 2 with lower admissions scores.
Students in Tier 3 and Tier 4 needed to get perfect or nearly perfect admissions scores to get into the most competitive schools. At Northside, for example, the average score of an admitted Tier 4 student was 892 and for a Tier 3 student it was 889 on the 900 point admissions scale. The average score of an admitted student in Tier 4 at Payton was 892 and for a Tier 3 student it was 884. Effectively, Tier 3 and 4 students seeking admissions to these schools needed to get in the top 5% on both their 7th and 8th grade tests – and of course all A’s in 7th grade.
Additionally, the change in admissions policy made it possible for students with lesser academic records than in previous years to be admitted to Selective Enrollment High Schools. The lowest score of an admitted student declined across all schools, but this decline was particularly dramatic for the most competitive schools. Last year the lowest score of an admitted student at Lane Tech was 736, but this year it was 688 (-48 points). At Northside last year the lowest score was 850; this year it fell 58 points to 792. At Payton last year it was 855, and this year it was 806 (-49 points). At Whitney Young last year it was 818, while this year it was 784 (-34 points).
According to Matthew Greenberg, partner of educational services firm SelectivePrep, “Where a student lives is playing an increasing role in whether he or she is admitted to a top Selective Enrollment High School. This means that a student needs to focus intently on those factors he/she can control.” He added, “While straight A’s in 7th grade are mandatory for students targeting the more competitive schools, the margin for error in test scores has narrowed for students from higher Tiers. Students need to aim for superior scores on both the Seventh Grade Standardized Test and the Selective Enrollment Entrance Exam.”
From Peter:
With the release of the selective enrollment high school point totals for 2011, it is possible to compare each of the nine schools with their 2010 scores. I calculated the 2011 average score by taking the weighted average of the school’s average scores for Rank (30 percent of students), and each of the four tiers (70 percent of students in total). My calculation for 2011 is compared to the average scores from 2010, found at the CPS and various other web sites.
One difference this year is that only 30 percent of students were admitted based solely on having the highest scores (“Rank’) with 70 percent coming from the students having the highest scores in each of the four census tiers. That differs from the 2010 policy in which 40 percent of students were admitted by Rank and 60 percent by Tier. As a result of having fewer Rank admissions, overall average scores were a bit lower this year than last, with seven of the nine schools showing a decline. Lindblom (+11) and Jones (+6) were the only two schools to show an increase in their average point total from last year. By my calculations, Jones actually moved slightly ahead of Young, 859 to 858. Last year, Jones was 15 points behind Young. Northside and Payton continued to be the two highest-scoring schools.
The average of the test scores of the nine schools in 2011 was 805, six points lower than in 2010.
Cut-off Scores
Another area of interest is the minimum scores for admission for each school, also known as the cut-off scores. As most of you know, 40 percent of the admissions are based entirely on the student’s score (referred to as “Rank”) and the other 60 percent are drawn equally from the highest performing students in each of the four census tiers designated by the CPS.
In general, the cut-off scores were higher in 2011 than in 2010 for the Rank category with Lindblom and Jones showing the biggest increases. Cut-off scores for students from Tiers 4 and 3 were sometimes higher and sometimes lower, depending on the school. Cut-off scores were lower for students coming from Tiers 1 and 2, especially for students coming from Tier 1, where they were anywhere between 9 and 58 points lower in 2011 than in 2010.
As an aside, the cut-off is the minimum score for a student from a given Tier, not the average score. For example, the minimum score for a Tier 1 student admitted to Payton was 806, but the average score for all the Tier 1 students admitted to Payton was 849.
I don’t have data for average scores by tier in 2010, but it seems to me that the lower cut-off scores for Tier 1 and Tier 2 suggest that the selective schools had fewer applicants from these areas in 2011 than they did in 2010. If so, the CPS might think about how they can get more high-performing students from the Tier 1 areas to apply to the selective enrollment schools. The CPS might also consider reworking how they categorize different census blocks into the four tiers. With the release of the 2010 census data, it is likely that several areas will see their tier change next year.
POST HIGH SCHOOL LETTER NEWS HERE
AS OF TUESDAY FEBRUARY 22, SE HIGH SCHOOL ADMISSION LETTERS ARE STARTING TO SHOW UP.
I know there are readers who are going to be getting information soon about high school admissions.
Feel free to share your news/information here in the comments section.
Information is power, as they say… so let’s get empowered. (Actually, maybe they don’t say that in the city of Chicago, but I still like to keep the dream alive.)
SCORE CUTOFFS FOR THE SE HIGH SCHOOLS ARE HERE:
Which High Schools are most racially diverse (Guest Post)
Another interesting guest post from HSObsessed about how racial diversity is somewhat scarce in CPS and comes largely as a result of the Tier (previously race) balancing system. Given the racial segregation of the city and relative lack of white students in the high schools, a true blend of races is difficult to achieve.
From HSObsessed:
I’ve been thinking about racial diversity in the CPS high schools. Whether we admit it or not, I think it probably plays a role in the decision about which schools might be an option for our kids. But so many CPS high schools are not racially diverse, and by that I mean a decent mix of all the races. (I know, this raises issues about what exactly is a “decent mix”, what is “race” anyway, whether race is relevant today, the unfairness of multiracial kids being forced to choose as single race on school forms, whether socioeconomic status is more important in achieving diversity, how CPS’ racial makeup reflects a geographically segregated city population, etc, etc. All excellent topics and beyond the limited scope of what I’m going to bring up here, but feel free to discuss!)
As of October 2010, this was the racial enrollment for all of CPS:
Hispanic 44%
African American 43%
White 9%
Asian 3%
When I look at the demographic data CPS supplies for its 140 or so high schools, the number of schools that are anywhere close to racially diverse looks to be about 19.
The high schools that are most diverse, in that they have at least 20 percent each Hispanic, African American and white are:
Chicago Arts HS
Jones
Lincoln Park
Ogden International HS (their data seems to include the lower grades, however)
Payton
von Steuben
Whitney Young
If we loosen our standards to accepting as racially diverse a population of at least 15 percent each Hispanic, African American and white, we can add to the list two high schools (two special ed high schools, Vaughn Occupational and North Side Center, also meet this criteria):
Chicago Academy HS
Mather
If we are content with at least 10 percent each Hispanic, African American and white, then the following high schools are added:
Alcott Humanities HS
Amundsen
Chicago Ag
CICS – Northtown
Kennedy
Lake View
Lane Tech
Rickover Naval Academy
Senn
Steinmetz
But maybe it isn’t about sending your kid to a school with a mix of races. Maybe the important thing is the concern that your kid won’t be the token African American kid, or the only Hispanic kid, or only white kid in the crowd. So let’s say the only criteria is that you’d like at least 10 percent of your kids’ fellow students to be the same race as your kid, and you’re open to any variety for the mix of the other 90 percent. How many high schools meet the criteria for each race?
Hispanic 86
African American 129
White 22
Asian 13
Of course, a huge number of CPS high schools are 90 percent or more composed of kids from a single race, and that’s not very diverse by most people’s standards. Also, geographic/commuting considerations and academic offerings/results factor in just a wee bit (ha ha), and so many of these numbers get reduced for a variety of reasons.
CPSObsessed Note:
Charter school composition as of the 08/09 school year:
Af Am 65%
Hispanic 31%
White 3%
Asian 1%
Lakeview High School (Guest Post)
SE High School Principals under fire for discretion choices
Thanks to a couple readers who pointed out this article in the Sun Times. (reprint below.) Thank god someone reads the news around here! Anyhow, 2 principals at SE High Schools are being called out for using their discretion “inappropriately.”
One reader has suggested that parents voice their opinion to CPS over the bad-use-of-clout issue. I’m still forming my thoughts on it. My initial reaction is that it’s yet another reason Chicago is messed up. All the political back-scratching and favor-doing. It’s embarrassing to live here sometimes. But then, like I think about Blago, I’m sure these principals were doing what many have done before them. As the W.Young principal points out, she wasn’t hiding anything and nobody stopped her or told her it was wrong, so it must have been OK. Well, that thinking got us into the financial crisis, lady. But I get her point.
And to some extent I support the idea of principal discretion. Times are tough. If a family makes it clear they will support a school with money or time or creativity or ideas or something else good, might a principal be crazy to turn that down? Is it fair to people who have no favors to offer. Probably. Maybe. Perhaps fewer than 5% of the seats might make me feel better about it. Why not let some rich families buy their way, but funnel the money to a low income school? Just thinking out of the box here.
I know, I know. I’m the one who is usually all about fairness. I just think it helps schools when the principal can get some extra resources that are hard to come by. Will I be singing a different tune when my son is in 7th grade? Undoubtedly.
Oh, but I DO like the idea of a school inspector. Sounds like a reality TV show I’d actually watch!
ARTICLE
The Chicago Schools Inspector General has recommended that Principal Joyce Kenner be banned for life from hand-picking kids for admission to Whitney Young Magnet High — a punishment Kenner calls “ridiculous” and one officials have ignored for seven months, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
At the same time last May, Schools Inspector General James Sullivan also recommended that Lane Tech Principal Antoinette Lobosco be banned for a year from making so-called “principal picks’’ at her school — another suggestion yet to be followed by Chicago Public School officials.
Both recommended punishments are mentioned in the IG’s annual report released Monday that blasts controversial “principal picks’’ at the city’s elite selective-enrollment high schools as being riddled with clout. Young, Lane and their principals are not mentioned by name, but a source identified them to the Sun-Times.
For her part, Kenner said she has used her picks over the last 16 years to build Young into a powerhouse of talented kids and wants to be considered by the next mayor for the top spot of CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
“I want to be the CEO,’’ Kenner told the Sun-Times. “I’m throwing my name out. I have the background and experience to take us to another level.”
As for her recommended punishment? “That’s absolutely unfair and ridiculous,’’ Kenner said. “It is January and I have not heard anything like that. . . . Nobody is going to make me a scapegoat. I did nothing wrong. I followed the procedure for the years it was in place.’’
Both Kenner and Lobosco say CPS officials approved the 5 percent of students they were allowed to pick outside a strict formula based mostly on grades and test scores during the two main years in question — 2008 and 2009 —when new rules were established for such picks. More controls were added in March following an audit.
“We had oversight,’’ Lobosco said. “Why wouldn’t they have rejected my picks if I did something improper?’’
However, Sullivan said, CPS officials did not always know the “underlying facts’’ behind the principal picks they reviewed. And, Sullivan said, “The problem is, when you select somebody based on clout, you’re passing over any number of kids who don’t have clout.’’
The IG investigation questioned several Lane students recommended by Ald. Gene Schulter (47th), who could not be reached for comment. Kenner was criticized for picks backed by current mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), the late Board President Michael Scott, Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), and other politicians. She also was accused of admitting basketball and soccer players whose academic records were lower than most Young students, a source said.
Kenner said she also took calls from people without clout and spread her picks among her coaches and even the Young violin teacher to build a wide range of talent at Young. Kenner said only one pick in 16 years failed to graduate from Young.
Although the IG recommended principal-pick bans back in May, sources said the possibility was discussed but not acted upon by CPS officials — at least not yet. Although the lifetime ban was recommended for what the IG called “egregious’’ abuse, punishment was problematic, sources said, as certain actions gave the appearance that the very highest levels of CPS condoned such inquiries.
Under then-Schools CEO Arne Duncan, who now serves as U.S. Education Secretary, the CEO’s office kept a clout-heavy log of callers about elite school admissions and a top aide vetted such calls. According to the IG report, of 69 students who were being tracked by the CEO’s office, 20 were ultimately enrolled, including six the IG “directly attributed to influence exerted by the CEO’s office.’’
The IG also found that politicians, CPS administrators and others contacted elite schools directly, bypassing the CEO’s log. Even the “Office of the Board improperly influenced’’ elite high school admissions and the principal-pick process “to give preferential treatment to politicians, public figure friends and others,’’ the IG found.
Duncan’s successor, Schools CEO Ron Huberman, commissioned an audit after federal officials issued subpoenas about possible clout admissions in July 2009. Afterwards, Huberman cracked down on the process last March but kept principal picks in elite high schools — even though the auditor recommended they be scrapped because they created “the opportunity for fraud or undue influence.’’
Recent Comments