WGN: Reports on early voting at Deneen Elementary School

 

[VIDEO] Yesterday WGN news was at the Ward 6 early voting site at Deneen Elementary School located at 7257 S. State St. BTW, did Julian Crews pronounce Deneen correctly? Can someone who has attended that school say for certain?

Anyway Crews noted in his report that while things were moving smoothly for the most part throughout the city, there were technical issues at Deneen and as a result there were lines as you saw in this report. People were getting out here and one person Crews spoke to was correct to say we had to fight for our right to vote.

And as another man stated in this report, it doesn't matter who you vote for just vote. He's right. Early voting continues through Nov. 3rd.

If you want to vote early I blogged about it on Tuesday.

2 shot near Deneen elementary school

Chicago Breaking News (from the Chicago Tribune) reports this story:

3:34 p.m. CDT, August 22, 2012

Two people were taken to a hospital in good condition today after being shot on the South Side near an elementary school.

The shooting happened on the 7200 block of South State Street at about 3 p.m., according to Chicago Fire Department officials.

The victims were both taken to St. Bernard Hospital in good condition after receiving basic life support, fire officials said.

Chicago police were on the scene of the shooting and did not have any further information.

The shooting occurred near Deneen Elementary school, 7257 S. State St.

If you've been to State Street, you know there are definitely suspicious individuals that walk up and down that strip of stores nearby.  I am sure they have driven away much business, making the arrea even worse.  (The owner of Chan's Chinese thinks of my family as a breath of fresh air compared to some customers)


Hopefully changes can be made to make the area more vibrant and less attractive to gangbangers and loiterers.
Here's the link to the story.


2 shot near South Side elementary school

Deneen LSC elections TODAY! (also Robeson, Guggenheim and others)

I just happened to be on the website for LSC's today, and checked regarding the supplemental elections - where schools that didn't have enough people running for an seat on their LSC would have a second election.

Deneen Elementary School (7240 S. Wabash Ave.) - now an AUSL , essentially is having the entire election on that date. While some schools may have been missing a few parent or communty slots, Deneen needs to fill ALL of their offices.

Guggenheim Elementary School (7141 S. Morgan St.) is seeking to fill the same number of slots.

Robeson High School (6835 S. Normal Blvd.) is also looking to fill 5 parent slots.

If you are a parent of a student, or live in the immediate community around the school, you have until 7pm TODAY to vote. Some of the serious candidates will be out near the school, so you can meet them and decide to vote for them,

Here's the link for the elections --> http://www.cps.edu/Pages/LSCElections.aspx

Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader

Via EveryBlock. A teacher at Deneen Elementary located at 7240 S. Wabash is seeking donations to provide her students with books to read.

My Students: Imagine 25 first graders sprawled across a classroom, each curled into a comfy spot with a book they can read all by themselves. The quiet hum of learning takes over as whisper voices read new stories, sound out words, and practice all the things good readers do. This is my dream for my classroom.

My students are curious, enthusiastic six and seven- year-olds who cannot wait to explore the world of books and reading. They live in a high-poverty neighborhood and have experienced many difficult challenges already in their young lives. However, each day they come to school with smiles on, eager to learn and grow.

My Project: My students are incredibly motivated to read, but unfortunately my classroom library is lacking in high quality books at the students' independent reading level. As emergent readers, my students have a wide range of abilities and previous experiences with books. They need access to books they can read on their own in order to build good reading habits and become strong readers.

The leveled books I am asking for support students as they make their way from highly patterned, beginning readers to books with more complex stories, plots, and dialogue. Finding these high-quality, engaging books in a wide range of first grade reading levels is often difficult and expensive. However, the benefits these leveled readers provide are numerous and valuable. Students' confidence grows as they read books they understand and enjoy, and over time, a love of reading emerges!

As a first year teacher, I am working to build a strong classroom library which truly supports ALL students in their journey to becoming lifelong readers and learners. This project will create a solid foundation for my leveled library that will grow and enrich student literacy for years to come! My students need 21 sets of leveled, "good-fit" books to read independently.

My students need 21 sets of leveled, "good-fit" books to read independently. 

What can we do to help? :)

Where Do We Go in 2011

In 2010 some major issues came to light in our community. We saw a rise in serious crime that took the life of Officer Thomas Wortham, an up and coming police officer and community leader. We saw the fall of education where one of our high schools Robeson was called one of the worst in the nation and three of our elementary schools, Deneen, Gillespie and Ruggles showed up on CPS probationary list. Lastly, 79th street one of the longest streets in the city of Chicago and once a mecca for African American business now is a street of empty storefronts.

While we have had our struggles this year, the new year 2011 brings a lot of promise. The election of a new mayor, a real aldermandic election, and a community that has wakened up. What do we need to do in 2011? The first topic we want to discuss is education. We cannot continue to make excuses for our schools. Whether they are elementary, secondary or post secondary we MUST demand excellence from our educational institutions. I suggest that after the election for Alderman, that the winner convene several town hall meetings where we have a serious discussions about the problems and how do we fix them. Also, look at the models that are currently being used whether its the traditional, charter, or a hybrid combining the best of both. What will work best for our community? What ideas do you have to better our schools?

Update: Dismissed Deneen Teachers Get Bonus Pay

District 299:

Deneen staffers who lost their jobs when CPS decided to do a turnaround of their school still got TAP funding in amounts ranging from $200 to $1400 per person. "KUDOS! To an outstanding staff who continued to persevere even after losing their battle against C.P.S. to stop the "turn around " of their school," writes Mary Stack.

Been a while since we heard anything about Deneen since CPS decided to rid the school of most of its faculty. The image about is the full statement from Ms. Stack.

Deneen "turnaround" is approved

Decided at today's school board meeting courtesy of the Sun-Times:

turning over the management of five schools to new leaders and teachers. So-called “turnarounds’’ were approved at Curtis Elementary, at 32 E. 115th St; Deneen Elementary, 7257 S. State; Bradwell Elementary, 7736 S. Burnham; Phillips High, at 244 E. Pershing and Marshall High, 3250 W. Adams.

Hundreds of teachers and school activists jammed Board chambers and an overflow room Wednesday to protest the proposals, which were trimmed back from an original 14 planned school shakeups.

In accepting her new post, new Board President Mary Richardson-Lowry conceded that “we need to work with the community. We need to improve our transparency and we will.’’

As you may well know, there's been a lot of commotion about the school's proposed actions regarding turnaround or closure. Here's more from WBBM-AM:

The Academy for Urban School Leadership, headed by former Chicago School Finance Authority Chairman Martin Koldyke, will oversee the turnarounds at Curtis, Deneen, Bradwell and Phillips, and intends to spend $1 million a school on the improvement effort.

We still want comments regarding the turnaround of Deneen. Do you think a new regime there will improve the school?

Teachers union files motion to block school overhauls

Sun-Times:

The Chicago Teachers Union filed an emergency motion today, seeking to block Chicago School Board members from voting tomorrowon overhauling Deneen and McCorkle Elementary Schools.

The union based its complaint on both schools inclusion in an innovative program, called the Teacher Advancement Program, that resulted in the district receiving a $27.5 million federal grant.

Staff at both Deneen and McCorkle voted to join the TAP program for four years, and Chicago Public School officials would be violating this four-year deal by handing Deneen over to a not-for-profit management company and consolidating McCorkle into another school that has not joined TAP, the union's motion stated.

Under the TAP program, teachers agree to have their pay tied to the performance of their students. In Chicago, they get bonuses if students make nearly the same or better gains compared to similar students systemwide on state math and reading tests. The program also offers teachers extra training and quick feedback on their teaching techniques.
...
Deneen, in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood, joined the program just this school year, according to the CTU motion, and has not “had the opportunity to be judged fairly and equitably."

Deneen was selected for TAP because it was underperforming, and for it to be taken over by a not-for-profit operation "prior to its completion of its first year violates the good faith and fair dealing principals found in every Illinois contract," according to the CTU motion.
...
A hearing on the emergency motion for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today before Chancery Judge Leroy Martin, a CTU spokeswoman said.

CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said the school district remains committed to the TAP program, but she stressed it is "in a pilot phase."

"It's not a silver bullet in and of itself for school turnaround, but, rather – part of a more comprehensive strategy," she said. "Therefore, we don't advocate that it become an exclusionary criteria for school closing."

CTU President Marilyn Stewart joined staff, parents and students outside both schools this morning as advocates protested the planned upheaval of their schools.

Tomorrow the school board is to vote on whether or not to close Deneen. If you plan to be at that meeting I would appreciate anyone e-mailing us to report what was discussed at this meeting.

Gillespie Elementary removed from turnaround list

The Chief Admin. Officer at CPS said at the recent aldermanic meeting that he would recommend that Gillespie would be removed. This to the applause of those in attendance at Wesley Church last Thursday. Story from CPR:

Chicago Public Schools has announced four schools that were slated to be closed by the district will be given another lease on life. The schools had been targeted for low performance or under-enrollment.

Schools chief Ron Huberman removed schools in North Lawndale and Englewood from the controversial closings list because of concerns over safe passage to and from new schools.

In another case, the district decided efforts already underway at the school could improve performance. The closings and overhauls were fought by thousands of parents and teachers.

The Board of Education will still vote on whether to close five schools at its regular meeting next week. They’ll vote on firing all staff at another five schools.

Deneen Elementary's fate will be considered by Chicago's Board of Education on February 24th.

BTW, there was an article from the Austin Weekly News discussing the story of Gillespie and mentions Deneen:

Gwen Roby, a teacher at Gillespie Elementary on the South Side, has certainly pondered this question a time or two over the past few weeks. Since CPS put Gillespie on the turnaround list, Roby and the rest of the school's teachers, administrators and staff will lose their jobs if the Chicago Board of Education accepts the district's recommendation to overhaul the school and hand it over to a district operator.

Roby and the others will have their answer-pink slip or teach-when the board votes Feb. 24. According to CPS, the overhaul was recommended because Gillespie has struggled academically. But many close to the school say CPS officials are letting test scores dictate its decision, preventing it from seeing how far the school has come in such a short time.

"Gillespie is already turning around," Roby said. "We're on the verge of doing great things."

Roby is a lead teacher for Gillespie's Chicago Teachers Advancement Program, a federally-funded reform model for underachieving schools. At a hearing about the turnaround last week, several students said their classmates fought, heaved books out the window and even sometimes brought guns to school. While teachers and community members point to Principal Michelle Willis' arrival in April 2007 as the main turning point for Gillespie, they regard the school's adoption of the TAP program as a close second.

"The police used to be here constantly," said Cynthia Varnado, a teacher at Gillespie for three years. "Dr. Willis was brought here to get the school under control."

The violence has been clamped down and order has been restored, many at the school have said. They also credit TAP for giving the teachers a fresh approach. But now, only five months after Gillespie and fellow South Side school, Deneen Elementary, implemented the reform program, CPS is proposing to overhaul both schools.

Well we already know Gillespie's fate, soon we will know Deneen's.

CPS closing hearings for Deneen

Via CORE (Caucus of Rank & File Educators)"

February 8, 2010. DENEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Deneen Elementary School (TO BE TURNED AROUND). CEO Presenter Ryan Crosby. LAW DEPT presenter (Not yet announced).

There was a hearing for Gillespie as well, but that was on Feb. 4th.

If you've attending the hearing at Gillespie or plan to attend the hearing about Deneen, please give us a brief report on what happened.

BTW, on my way back from downtown last night there were some signs in the windows of Deneen School that are visible from the Dan Ryan. If only I could get pictures of them, but certainly in reference to the possibility of what could happen to Deneen in the future. The signs said "SAVE DENEEN".

If you're in any way close to the situation at Deneen, you're more than welcome to comment here. Also I would like for someone to react to this comment I found about Deneen as well.

A less than positive review of Deneen

You can also find this in the 6th's EveryBlock feed:

Deneen and it's staff and Principals are horrible!! They have 2yrs. of low academic performance and they allow students to be bullied. They are up for a turn-around. I hope the B.O.E. decides wisely. Our children's futures are at stake. Out with the old and in with the new. Change needs to happen quickly at this school.

Anyone else want to chime in?

Would you support a 6th Ward meeting on Education?

For more information contact:

Monique Bond

CPS Office of
Communications

Phone: 773-553-1620

Fax: 773-553-1622

Website: http://www.cps.edu/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 19, 2010

Chicago Public Schools Officials Announce 2010
Proposed School Actions

New Student Bill of
Rights Criteria Guides Process

Chicago Public Schools officials today announced a series of proposed school actions that are designed to improve educational opportunities for students at low-performing schools and create operational efficiencies by closing school buildings that are under enrolled or in poor condition.



CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman and Chief Education Officer Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins said the proposed actions call for the turnaround of five schools, closing four schools, consolidating four schools and phasing out one school.


"Our primary obligation is to assess the performance of schools and provide the best possible educational opportunity for students in every school in Chicago," Huberman said. "This means taking a long hard look at every school under our Performance Policy and making what can be difficult decisions on whether a school is properly serving its students.



"At the same time, we – like virtually every school system in the U.S. – are faced with tough budget constraints and, as a result, we must ensure that we are using our limited operational funds in a smart, cost-effective way. We cannot afford to operate schools where the student population has declined to a level in which keeping a school open is no longer fiscally prudent."



Under Board-approved policy, CPS can close or create turnaround schools for chronic low performance; for low enrollment and underutilization; or if a building has fallen into a state of substantial disrepair.

- more-

In cases where school actions are approved by the Board, new guidelines introduced this year aim to ease the transition of students from one school to another.



Huberman said the proposed actions are the result of months of study, analysis and outreach, and that a series of public hearings will take place over the next few weeks to hear from school communities, concerned citizens and other stakeholders. Following the hearings, CPS administration will make a recommendation in February to the Chicago Board of Education for turnarounds, phase-outs, consolidations and closing that would take effect beginning with the 2010-11 school year



Huberman said two high schools and three elementary schools are proposed for turnaround because of poor academic performance. Under the turnaround strategy, students stay at their school and new leadership and staff are brought in to change the school culture and performance expectations.



The turnaround strategy at CPS began in 2006 with the conversion of Sherman Elementary School by the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). The following year, Harvard Elementary School was turned around by AUSL. In all, 16 CPS schools are currently being turned around by AUSL; by the CPS Office of School Turnarounds, which reports to Chief Education Officer Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins; or are engaged in turnaround efforts that are principal-led.



AUSL would be designated to implement the turnaround strategy at four of the schools for which turnaround is being proposed:

• Bradwell Elementary School, 7736 South Burnham
  
• Frank L. Gillespie Elementary School, 9301 South State St.
  
• Charles S. Deneen Elementary School, 7257 South State St.
  
• Wendell Phillips High School, 244 East Pershing Road
  

The current John Marshall High School, 3250 W. Adams, is proposed to be turned around by the CEdO-CPS Office of School Turnarounds.

The complete press release can be found at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25455165/School-Actions-10-PR-2

Would you support and participate in a 6th ward meeting on Education? Based on the above and the new enrollment policy for selective enrollment schools that may not allow some high school bound students attend the school of their choice and lastly the lack of support for Harlan, the only decent high school in the area.

UChicago students need help on study of Deneen Elementary

I got this e-mail today. Looking for parents of Deneen students, Deneen alumni, and people from the surrounding community.

Levois,

I saw your post on The Sixth Ward about neighborhood schools and was wondering if you know anything about Deneen Elementary? I along with 3 other members of my class are doing a school study on Deneen and trying to see how it functions in relation to parents and the surrounding community. Additionally, if you know anyone who is a parent of a Deneen student, we would love to get their perspective.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Maggie Claudy
University of Chicago
Urban Teacher Education Program

PS: I've attached a copy of our director's letter describing the project in more depth.

This student is working on a rough draft of their research paper right now, but needs any information provided to them before they have to turn in their final drafts by December 7th. Our contact e-mail as always is thesixthward [AT] 1chicago [DOT] net (please remember to change brackets with @ and the dot or period punctuation) but it's also in the sidebar, please respond by sending this blog via e-mail and any information you have for her will be forwarded to her!

EDIT: You can send comments to her directly @ DeneenStudy [AT] yahoo [DOT] com she is further seeking

In addition to the perspectives of parents with currently enrolled students, we're interested in hearing from former students, former or current teachers, anyone who has an opinion on Deneen.

We also welcome anonymous contributions.

Help a college student out! :P