Chicago Public Schools, like Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, are short nearly 5,000 candidates for Local School Council elections.
(Chicago, IL) – March 9, 2012. What if an election was planned and no candidates showed up? That’s the problem facing the Chicago Public Schools.
With a shortage of nearly 5,000 local school council candidates, CPS has extended the candidate deadline to file election petitions to Friday, March 23.
So far, only 2,060 candidates have filed for the 6,800 available seats. The original deadline was Thursday, March 8, 2012.
And the schools’ chief is now begging parents to step up and to help their local schools and own kids.
“We want to create the very best schools for every child in every community so they can thrive and be successful, but CPS cannot do so alone,” said CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.
“The community must help lead this effort and there is no better way to do so than by joining your Local School Council.”
The “community” has spoken. And they gave the local school councils a big, fat “Bronx cheer”.
Brizard is right, but he said it too politely. CPS administrators and teachers can’t raise and educate the kids alone. But alone they are. Chicago parents have abandoned their local schools and their own kids.
Hello, parents? Anyone out there?
Gov. Pat Quinn
Why not compare how much CPS spent in advertising LSC elections in prior years with this year’s expenditures. Might indicate something.
Posted by Maureen Cullnan | March 9, 2012, 2:14 PMMaureen,
Could you volunteer for that comparison task?
Thanks for reading.
David Ormsby
Posted by David Ormsby | March 9, 2012, 2:31 PMI think the parents are disenfranchised from he school with the unions calling ,from what seems like, all the shots. What real power would the parents be able to wield? It seems a little futile.
Posted by lehorn | March 9, 2012, 3:05 PML,
The unions do not call the shots. The local school councils approve the school’s budget and contracts and hire the principal, like any suburban school board. These are tiny, but powerful bodies.
Thanks for reading.
David Ormsby
Posted by David Ormsby | March 9, 2012, 3:20 PM