Hit with 'turnaround' attack, school was sabotaged by CAO Janie Ortega... Marquette Elementary School is fighting Board move to destroy it through 'turnaround' after years of sabotage by CPS administration
On Thursday, December 22, 2011, a school that at one time was a "Rising Star School" had news conference to discuss the “turnaround “scheduled for their school. The school, one that has been overcrowded for years, is Marquette Elementary on the city's South Side.
At one point, according to CPS, Marquette Elementary was a "Rising Star School." The staff was working hard and scores were going up.
Even though CPS added an "annex" to the main building of Marquette Elementary School at 65th and Richmond on Chicago's South Side, the school has been chronically overcrowded for more than a decade. Manipulation of students by charter schools in the area (including UNO charter schools) has also resulted in constant pressure on Marquette, as students who have been dumped out of the charters arrive on a regular basis with problems the charters refused to try and handle. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Unfortunately, the school got a CAO (at the time, a "Chief Area Officer" for the "Area", now a "Chief of Schools" for the "Network") who derailed the schools progress, according to the school's staff, parents, and community supporters. The area Officer’s name was Janie Ortega. She had been imported to Chicago by then Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman, supposedly because she had the kind of special expertise that can only be brought to Chicago's public schools by outsiders who never taught in Chicago. Ortega had begun her career as an administrator in Texas and had a controversial career in Boston before getting one of the top jobs in Chicago. By November 2010, Ortega was facing anger from teachers and principals. She demanded that every principal in her "Area" fire at least two teachers (a local variation on Race to the Top?) In a memo that became public, she told principals that during her evaluation of them, she would ask which two teachers on their staffs they were preparing to fire.
Ortega's impact on all the schools in her "Area" was huge, and generated protest meetings organized by teachers and the new leadership of the CTU. But in a school already facing a maximum number of problems, according to the staff, she brought horrible new problems to the school. She was “like Hitler” and had young teachers crying, teachers told the December 22 press conference. "We fought her by going to the Board of Education and she is no longer here," was the constant refrain. According to speaker after speaker, Marquette has been sabotaged for the last five years. Among other acts of central sabotage, Marquette has had three principals in the last three years.
Instead of Christmas shopping or enjoying their "Intersession", on December 22, 2011, students, teachers, and parents held a powerful demonstration outside Marquette Elementary School, protesting the sabotage of the school by CPS and Chicago. Substance photo by Jean Schwab. According to the old CPS guidelines for closings and turnarounds, no school is supposed to be considered for a turnaround list if it has not had the same principal for at least two consecutive school years. Thirty teachers have left, mostly because of Ortega and the instability associated with the turnover of principals, teachers said. The teachers and staff stated that this instability has caused the school to become destabilized. 
Major drug gang problems facing the impoverished community around Marquette Elementary School have been ignored for years when CPS officials, now under Jean-Claude Brizard, attack the school and its teachers because test scores are low. Above, four years ago the MLDs (Maniac Latin Disciples) tagged a garage a block from the school. Current events and Chicago Police data show the same gang is still the major gang in the area around Marquette. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Especially disruptive is that outside people have been coming into the school's classrooms to evaluate every week. They tell the teachers what to teach and want scripted lessons. Teachers state that as far as they are concerned, they “have not been allowed to teach, we know our students and what works best with them.”
Marquette has 1,400 students, making it one of the city's largest elementary schools (and larger than many of the city's high schools) and has faced overcrowding problems for years. According to the teachers, the school does not have the resources needed coming to their school. They have one music teacher, one nurse and one-and-a-half social workers. The classes are overcrowded. Teachers and staff say that besides another social worker, another counselor is needed. According to teacher, Venita McDonald, the school has not been given a corrective plan and there has never been a plan. CPS is mandated to provide resources for schools that are being turned around. They are supposed to be given a corrective action plan, a budget and a management team. This has not happened. McDonald states: "The CTU needs to file a lawsuit against CPS because they have not provided these services." A similar situation existed at Julian High School, she said, and Julian was not closed because CPS did not follow the law. If CPS can’t run this school, we can use less money.
This school reminds one observer of "The Little Engine That Could." It keeps going no matter what obstacles are put in its way. It does remarkably well considering the challenges. Hopefully, it will come out on top.
