Historical Advice to the Chicago Board of Education  

For those youngsters out there, you will not remember Casimir "Casey" Banas, whose four decades of reporting on schools for the Chicago Tribune made him one of the city's best known and most respected education writers who died  too soon at age 64 in 2001.

Casey always knew what he was talking about as it related to education and did not mind talking about it no matter who took the brunt of his incisive reporting.  And because I was an admirer and avid supporter of most of Casey’s views on education, I always “clipped” articles  written by Casey.  And then I ran across this May 1980 article about the Chicago Board of Education that could have been written today. 

Casey outlined a plan which was then directed to the new Board of Education, which had just been appointed by the new Mayor Jane Byrne.  Historians will rate the Mayor and her new Board of Education, but Banas began by indicating that since only two of the board members had a good working knowledge of the school system, he was offering the following advice:

     "Find veteran school observers not employed in the school system to give you a  

      thorough grounding in the issues".

      "Appoint a search committee to submit a slate of candidates for school superintendent". 

Thanks to the Illinois legislature and its “Mayoral  control legislation”, we no longer have a school superintendent (one that has to pass the Illinois State Board  of Education’s (ISBE) tests and meet other criteria), but a CEO that does not have to meet any  criteria other than political ones that the Mayor dictates.  BBB has educational credentials, but never went through ISBE's credentialing. Three of her four most recent  predecessors had no educational credentials, including Arne Duncan, now SOEOTUS.

 "After you get a feel for the schools….have some extensive discussions about what makes a good
  school".

"The greatest need is to improve the education of black children from poverty-level  families.  Discuss
this issue at length.  If you do, even one thoughtful debate on the question will be a first"        

"Chicago receives $55 million a year in federal funds for compensatory programs to elevate the education of children of the poor ....Demand a thorough accounting of how this money is used".
It will take a budget analyst to understand the formula that determines how much is allocated for compensatory education in 2013. And it will take an investigation to determine if the funds actually get to the children of the poor.  

"Parents throughout the city are frustrated and angry because they believe the school system does not respond to their needs".  
We protest and march in 2013 for the same reason, this time on steroids.

"There are many excellent teachers, principals, administrators, and other employees.  There also are many who perhaps should be fired.  The process of firing a teacher is cumbersome.  It is also difficult, at times, to evaluate their wor:k". 
We know how to evaluate their work now. We just use student test scores that negatively correlate with poverty.

Casey ends his column with  hope. "Finally, realize that you have a city looking at you for leadership to turn this school system around.” 
Nothing has changed so the parents, educators and other right thinking individuals have decided to take things into their own hands, realizing that the Board will not provide the leadership Casey indicated. Now we have to have Civil Rights marches all over the city to bring attention to the the plight of children of the poor. Together with the Chicago Teachers Union on May 18, 19 and 20,  we are marching across the city. We will continue contacting our legislators to ask for intervention on behalf of the children of the poor. And we are going to keep talking about the inequities and injustices against children of the poor through 2013 media outlets. Perhaps after 33 years we will see some move toward equality.

A Tribute to King and a salute to future kings and queens

I attended a "King"production yesterday at my church, Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale, produced by the children from the ages of 3 to 16, with extraordinary help from their "teachers."  The first thing I thought about was that these are the same 100 children that the Chicago public schools label as at-risk underachievers.  Then I listened as the children read their scripts from a written composition without flaws and with the feelings of comprehension.  There was the PAST (Act I) and the audience learned what catapulted Dr. King to greatness. There was only a brief mention of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech".  That mention was to say that we would return to it when Act III presented the future.  There was the PRESENT (Act II), and the children reviewed the lives of heroes and she-roes of today, like their mothers, our pastor, their teachers, and of course well known names like The Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and First Lady Michelle Obama, and Gabby Douglas.  Some included Ex-President Bill Clinton (as you see the children were not limited to noted Blacks).  But Act III, the FUTURE, brought tears to my eyes and hope for the future of Dr. King's Dream. About 20 children ( also from three to 16 years old) walked up to the microphone,  stated their names and their ages and said what they WOULD BE, not what they wanted to be, when they grew up.  Interspersed between these children's ambitions was the reading of the poem authored by our pastor. You weren't there, but imagine, the dulcet tones of  Anything Is Possible, a three year old saying proudly, "When I grow up, I will be a vegetanarian (sic), and the following poem, written especially for our Black children being read appropriately in-gs and between. Too often these children will not live to see their dreams come true, but the poem is our promise to them and the real meaning of the present and the future of the  " Dream" and the dreamers.
                                                              The Dream Still Lives
           So you tell me the dream is deferred!  So you tell me the dream is delayed!  No, you tell
           me the dream is denied!
           But, as the phoenix rises from the ashes- I stand in living testimony that the dream is still
           alive.
           Did the dream die in Alabama, or did the dream die in Chicago?  Did the dream die in
           Memphis on some dark dreary day? Maybe the dream simply died in our heads and in our
           hearts!
           But as the sun sets, surely it will rise again.
           As the phoenix rises from the ashes, I stand as living testimony that the dream is still alive.
           As a brilliant sun with its hues of purple and red brings us to the end of a long hard day, I'm
           not convinced that the dream is denied, even if it may be delayed.
           Don't just ask me what happens, show me, tell me of the things that can be.  Show me what I
           can do!  Show me where I can go!  Tell me that anything is possible.  Show me what I can do
           and who I can be.
           So maybe time has passed and the dream seems to have been deferred. Maybe the dream
           seems to have been delayed but I'll never stop believing.  I'll never stop dreaming. If I keep
           dreaming, I assure you the dream will never be denied.  In me, the dream is still alive.
           So if you ask me a question about the dream-my response is simply this:  There is a new
           renaissance arising- Not up in Harlem, but in my head and in my heart.  There is a new day
          dawning.  The possibilities of a brand new start have come. So I hope I've answered your
          question, the question from the Harlem Renaissance.  What happens to the dream that seems to
          have been delayed?  The dream they told me was deferred, no even denied.  I believe anything
          is possible.  So understand, the dream they said was deferred, it lives in my heart.  There is an
          explosion taking place and the dream will not die!  As the phoenix rises from the ashes the
         dream is still alive!