'... Unfortunately � for the students and educators in our district � business as usual for CPS under Emanuel is as backward as it gets. It�s time for an elected school board...' Principal challenges CPS claim that principals will benefit from new plan for so-called 'autonomy'...
Rahm Emanuel's new CPS leadership "team" includes CEO Forrest Claypool, Board president Frank Clark, and Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson. [Editor's Note: The following material is reprinted here at Substance with the permission of the writer, the principal of Blaine Elementary School in Chicago. The Sun-Times reported this new policy in its print editions of August 4, 2015. George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance].
CPS principal program will prove empty, harmful. WRITTEN BY TROY LARAVIERE POSTED: 08/04/2015, 04:47PM. Chicago Sun-Times.
On Monday, principals across the city received an email from CPS�s central office announcing yet another program that will do more harm than good.
It stated: �In order to further develop and retain our experienced and high-achieving principals, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools are launching the Independent Schools Principal (ISP) program. In this program, a cohort of 25 high-performing CPS principals will receive greater autonomy from several existing CPS structures.�
The letter goes on to list certain �autonomies� and �stipulations.� They are as follows:
Autonomies: 1. Exempt from network oversight; 2. Modified principal evaluation; 3. Continued access to School Support Centers; 4. Increased flexibility with budget.
Stipulations: 1. Opt-out of access to Network support and professional development; 2. Opt-in to a professional learning community with other ISPs; 3. Maintain or increase the School Rating Level; 4. Participate in pilot research; 5. Participate in external site visits; 6. Respond to direct Central Office inquiries.
The August 4, 2015 story in the Sun-Times reflected the reality of history in the face of the attempt by the new CPS "Chief Education Officer" to promote City Hall hype. The list of stipulations is longer than the list of autonomies. That signals a net loss for autonomy. Furthermore, only one of the autonomies listed is an actual autonomy (exempt from network oversight). The other so-called autonomies don�t come close to living up to the term. For example:
#2: A modified evaluation is not autonomy; it is a modified evaluation.
#3: All CPS principals currently have access to School Support Centers. Only in the spin-laden world of CPS can �continued� access to something you already have access to be thought of as more autonomy. #4: The last time CPS offered us �increased flexibility,� they took hundreds of thousands (in some cases millions) of dollars away from each of our schools and gave us the �autonomy� to piece together an instructional program in the wake of their slash-and-burn budgeting. Given CPS� track record, why would any principal with a working long-term memory trust the district�s latest promise of autonomy?
Furthermore, removing your best principals from their regular principal meetings is a backward and thoughtless strategy for improving an entire district. Our network chief (network 4) often has two to three principals lead workshops for their colleagues in our meetings. These workshops illustrate thoughtful approaches to solving problems that many of us have in common. What happens when you separate the most effective principals from their colleagues who can no longer use their ideas to benefit the tens of thousands of students they serve?
To add insult to injury, CPS has decided to tempt high performing principals away from their colleagues with an unspecified offer of additional funding.
As expected, the elitist and separatist approach of CPS officials is rearing its divisive head once again. After all, this is the same cash-strapped district that decided to take $60 million it doesn�t have and spend it to build yet another selective enrollment school. Their approach to principals is no different; segregate the top performers from the colleagues who need them most, and leave the latter to fend for themselves.
Intelligent school systems offer incentives for such principals to take on additional leadership responsibilities among their colleagues who are doing well, and among those who are struggling. Our district officials however have opted to do the opposite; they offer incentives for principals to segregate themselves from the colleagues who need them most. To anyone concerned with the overall health of our system, this makes no sense.
In summary, there is no credible evidence of increased autonomy offered in CPS�s description of this initiative, and the initiative completely ignores effective school system practices that encourage effective principals to collaborate with colleagues who need them.
This initiative is among the first major announcements of the latest schools CEO to be appointed by Rahm Emanuel: Forrest Claypool. It is also � unfortunately � an indication that his new leadership position will not signal a change in the leadership direction of CPS. It is business as usual. Unfortunately � for the students and educators in our district � business as usual for CPS under Emanuel is as backward as it gets. It�s time for an elected school board.
Troy LaRaviere is principal of Blaine Elementary School and chair of the Administrators Alliance for Proven Policy and Legislation in Education.
LaRaviere blogs at http://troylaraviere.net/author/troylaraviere/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES REPORT ON THE 'AUTONOMY' PLAN...
CPS could free 25 schools from network oversight
WRITTEN BY BY LAUREN FITZPATRICK AND FRAN SPIELMAN POSTED: 08/03/2015, 01:04PM
As Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised in his recent re-election campaign, Chicago Public School principals who�ve already proven they�re running a top school are getting a chance to lose a layer of bureaucracy over them.
CPS told principals on Monday that it�s launching an Independent Schools Program, reminiscent of the Autonomous Management Performance Schools that ended in 2011. It will give 25 principals more flexibility over their budgeting, more money to arrange for training and freedom from the oversight and evaluation of a network chief.
�We also know that attracting and retaining our high-performing principals is definitely a challenge with CPS, so this is something I felt was a quick win and I also know this has been something that�s been highly anticipated amongst principals,� Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday.
�We know that there are a lot of principals who feel like they spend a lot of time responding to those mandates, attending meetings outside of their schools, and while we recognize that�s necessary for a large majority of our schools, we also recognize there are school leaders who do not require that level of oversight,� she said.
Jackson and CEO Forrest Claypool told CPS principals in a letter that they�ll consider expanding the program if the next year is a success. And each of the principals will be given some undetermined amount of money to arrange for their school�s training because they won�t have to attend most network sessions.
Unlike Autonomous Management Performance Schools of the past, the individual principals will qualify for the program, not the school.
Jackson expects that principals of gifted and top-rated schools will want to apply, �but we also know there are several principals who may be working in more challenging settings who would also qualify,� she said. �So we see this not only as an opportunity for principals in those selective enrollment and gifted schools but we also know there are principals who are really beating the odds in some difficult circumstances and they deserve the same level of freedom so they can continue to be innovative and creative.�
To qualify, principals must have achieved �proficient� or �distinguished� ratings in their own evaluations in the past two school years and have been in their roles for at least three years � that�s 312 out of about 520 district-employed principals, CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said. They must apply by Aug. 10.
Jackson said moving the 25 principals out of the 13 geography-based networks won�t allow the cash-strapped district to downsize a network and its bureaucracy � each office�s salaries top $1 million a year, according to employment records, and several pay rent on office space, too. But the consolidations will allow the network staff to give more support �to our schools in greatest need.� She also said existing central office staffers will conduct principal evaluations, which are required by state law.
The head of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association did not return messages seeking comment. Principals contacted by the Sun-Times, who declined to be named, said the program would free them from paying for teacher training at network offices, from meetings that don�t apply to their schools, and from pressure from network chiefs to comply with CPS requirements.
The �Independent Schools Program� is a page right out of Mayor Rahm Emanuel�s campaign playbook.
In early January, Emanuel unveiled an ambitious, second-term education agenda that called for putting a �specialty focus� high school within 3 miles of every family, freeing top-performing schools from burdensome mandates and achieving an 85 percent graduation rate by 2019.
Confronting an education issue that is both a strength and an Achilles� heel, Emanuel also promised to make computer science a graduation requirement for high school students and �re-invent� senior year, with more students taking college courses and holding internships that set them on a career path and inspire them to go to college.
Emanuel has spent the past four years trying to give parents an array of high school choices to prevent middle-class families from fleeing to the suburbs when their kids reach high school age.
They range from International Baccalaureate and STEM schools that focus on science, technology, engineering and math to military academies, magnet and selective-enrollment schools. Fully half of Chicago�s 92 �traditional� public high schools fall into those categories.
But in a Cultural Center address to a hand-picked group of principals, parents and education advocates, Emanuel acknowledged that his best efforts have fallen short.
�Too many Chicago high schools simply haven�t achieved the level of quality that parents demand and students deserve. . . . Too many families decide to pack it up and leave the city rather than stay, even though they desire to stay,� he said.
�We can take the whole concept of high schools being the reason parents leave to high schools being the reason parents want to say in the city of Chicago. Our goal will be that every family in Chicago lives within three miles of one of those high-quality choices,� Emanuel said.
The decision to grant �Independent School Status� to schools that have achieved �top-quality standards� for three years running is a return to a model that CPS tried when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was serving as schools CEO, then abandoned in 2011. That was called the Autonomous Management Performance Schools program and Emanuel�s first CEO, Jean-Claude Brizard, put an end to it in 2011.
Emanuel wants to bring it back to give the best-led, best-performing schools �freedom to innovate around curriculum and instruction� and allocate resources for �school specific� needs.
The mayor was vague about the standards for achieving and losing independent status and precisely what burdens would be lifted. He said standards would be developed by the Chicago Public Schools CEO in conjunction with principals, parents, teachers and academics.
But he said, �Here�s your incentive: If you want independence, earn it. Then all the resources, attention time and energy will be focused on those that need to be lifted up. You don�t want the area office at CPS centrally focusing on schools that are doing great. You want their time and energy dedicated towards schools that need the help and the assistance.�
Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, scoffed at the time at the vow to free top schools from burdensome mandates.
�The Board of Education under his appointed leadership is choking local schools and killing initiative with smothering mandates that are a blanket of compliance measures. Our members are literally choking under paperwork requirements. There�s a crying out for relief,� Sharkey said then.
�It runs contrary to what he�s done. Words are cheap. He needs to put his money where his mouth is,� he added.
CATALYST SPINS THE STORY...
On August 5, Catalyst reported the story and got a major fact half accurately. The AMPS program noted schools that were successful. Never before has such a major program singled out "high achieving principals" as if they were somehow separate from their schools, the schools' communities, and the staffs of those schools. The controversial "bonus" program for certain principals proved embarrassing to many of the system's most talented principals. Some of them even turned the checks immediately over to their schools, as we reported at Substance. Although many principals were happy to receive the "bonuses" (which have been withheld this year), most veteran principals -- unlike Janice Jackson -- know that a "star principal" is mostly the result of a good school with a committed staff and few or no social and economic problems among its students.
CATALYST ARTICLE:
By Melissa Sanchez
CPS officials announced on Monday that they will resurrect an Arne Duncan-era program to give 25 principals more freedom from red tape in running their schools, managing their finances and attending network meetings.
Unlike the previous iteration of the program, it�s the principals themselves � and not the schools � who will be granted extra autonomy and flexibility under the new Independent Schools Program.
�We�re actually granting those autonomies to the principals,� says Janice Jackson, the district�s newly appointed chief education officer. The status �will follow the principal to a new school, though we will also look at the principal�s performance at the other school.�
Principals who are chosen for the program will be:
Exempt from network chief oversight, including building walk-throughs, evaluations and budget approval
Evaluated through a modified process coordinated by Jackson�s office
Granted more flexibility on budgeting and purchasing matters
Only principals who have been on the job for at least three years and have earned a �proficient� rating or better in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years, can apply. Jackson says 312 current principals would qualify.
The decision to grant some high-performing principals more autonomy follows up on a campaign promise made earlier this year by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Asked whether the new Independent Schools Program will save the cash-strapped district money by cutting back on the oversight from network offices, Jackson said CPS will �still maintain the same level of network structure,� although network teams will have fewer principals to evaluate and oversee. �This allows the network teams to better support teams in their portfolios that may be struggling," she added.
Principals were notified about the program today and given only a week to apply. The program will go into effect this fall.
Level of prestige
The new program is reminiscent of the Autonomous Management Performance Schools program (AMPS) that was created in 2006 during Duncan's tenure and killed off in 2011 by the-CEO Jean Claude-Brizard. The program gave dozens of schools greater control over their budgets and freedom from certain performance assessments and area instructional oversight.
�Everybody aspired to be an AMPS principal. It carried with it a certain level of prestige or bragging rights,� says Clarice Berry, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. �The less red tape principals have and the less bureaucracy there is from CPS, the happier they are.�
District officials could not say on Monday whether the revival of principal autonomy means the end of principal bonuses. Emanuel had launched a principal bonus program four years ago � with four years� worth of private funding. During the first two years of the program, CPS officials made big announcements and went public with information about the principals who won the extra cash.
No such information came out last year, and nothing has been said about bonuses for the 2014-2015 school year � the final year of the program. (Catalyst has been asking the district since May for information about who received bonuses last year.) Berry says many principals have reached out to her in recent weeks, asking for news about the bonuses.
Jackson says the district is still developing the parameters to determine whether a principal who is chosen for the program will retain the status the following year � although the designation will be based in part on their school School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP). �We would also zero in on growth metrics, looking to see if a principal�s leadership is leading to greater growth,� Jackson said.
�Once principals are in the program, that�s something we could introduce at a further time,� she said. �Principals do know the program is based on continued success.�
Comments:
By: George N. Schmidt
Jackson's Star Bellied Sneeches program...
Unlike the AMPS program, which involved schools, the Claypool-Jackson plan is even worse than a "poisoned pill." Schools aren't included -- just "star" principals (which Jackson wasn't, except in the realm of cheap publicity stunts, public relations, and craven Rahmistic networking). The first blast of bullshit from the new "Clark - Claypool - Jackson" leadership includes this "Star Principals" nonsense as well as Claypool's direct attack on the Chicago Teachers Union (the interview with the Sun-Times during which he says the teachers must take a pay cut by giving up the pension pickup, ignoring that piece of history). And, of course, we can look forward to Frank Clark continuing his career in mendacity by choking off public participation at Board of Education meetings. After all, the man who can claim that the hearings on the school closings from 2012 - 2013 showed any "public support" for the massive, racist and unconscionable closings will say anything to further the Wall Street and LaSalle Street party lines.
Noteworthy: The Board of Education meetings scheduled by Frank Clark and Forrest Claypool from now until New Year's Eve are all downtown at the old Sears Story. Doubtless, Clark will continue the Vitale regime's exclusion of most public speakers from the Board meetings, eschew press conferences (another Vitale innovation), and maybe iterate some neologism to replace Vitale's claim that only Board members have the "true facts."
As to "Dr." Jackson's version of Star Principals... The literary ancestor of that nonsense is Dr. Seuss. Jackson is proposing that CPS have "Star Bellied Sneeches" among its principals -- that is, until the majority figures out how to give every principal a star, at which time Jackson will doubtless proclaim that the Sneeches without stars are really, as she was, a true "star."
Chicago continues to be a national warning and a national joke. As long as we refuse to promote legislation for a true elected school board, however, the joke is on the majority of us.
By: bob busch
7-7=0
What a crock.The Board wants to eliminate the pension pick up.What did they pick up,7% that
got lost between paycheck and pension board?
That was the perfect scam since they haven't paid even one percent for the last decade.
Where was the CTU in all this?
By: George N. Schmidt
Pension pickup history... and CTU problems...
Ironically, the Tribune today (August 6, 2015) has an editorial that talks about the origins of the pension pickup in 1981. What the Tribune misses is the context of the history. In 1979 - 80, Chicago got the "School Finance Authority" following the phony "bankruptcy" claim of the city's banks and ruling class (led in those days by Jay Pritzker, in case anyone is interested in that piece of history). What CTU negotiators did by giving the Board the pension pickup deal was keep a pay raise out of the teachers (and "career service" as it was then called) salary schedules. Now the ruling class is unified. Forrest Claypool's first press briefing -- he doesn't hold public press conferences -- says that CPS must get the union to drop the pension pickup from the contract. And, of course, the Tribune and Bruece Rauner are attacking the pension pickup as well. A number of those smartassed ideas from the union leadership back in those days have backfired. Rahm Emanuel used the deals on the length of the elementary school day to claim Chicago had the world's "shortest" school day, for example. The lesson for today's union leadership: no gimmicks. Raises go into the salary schedules. The length of the school day is defined without any two o'clock teacher lunches. Etc.
By: Margaret Wilson
Pension Payments
I remember when the Pension Pickup was first offered instead of raise. This gave the Board the opportunity to go back on their promises and at the same time lower our pensions by denying raises.
In terms of the governor wanting suburban teachers to give up due process, Chicago lost ours many years ago and when it went to court, the IL Supreme Court said that we were not part of the State of IL and therefore, our teachers could be treated differently.
I would very much like to see teachers throughout the State unifying and demanding Due Process for all!
By: Bob Busch
Contract
All this pension pick-up talk has to make one wonder.Did the board actually fulfill our contract during the pension holiday and fork over the 7%?
By: bob Busch
Under the bridge
to our favorite troll named Abracadabra
who just wrote:
"CTU leaders demonstrate concern about their own. They are ready to compromise or keep their eyes closed if needed.They just sold you out".
I know about the Substance rule but what you wrote paints too narrow a stroke.The CTU was just one small partner in a much larger gang of crooks.The Lewis wing of the CTU has been unable to undue 40 years of horrible leadership,Debbie Lynch excluded.The sell out was done by various UPC officials going back to Healey.
By: Rod Estvan
Yes Troy LaRaviere is correct
Principal LaRaviere is correct that the autonomy being offered is a poisoned pill. But the sad true of the situation may be that there are some principals of higher performing schools often with lower percentages of low income students who see a program like this as a good way to insulate themselves and their staff from the generalized disaster that is about to come down on CPS. There is no life boat here as far as I can see.
By the way Governor Rauner at a PR conference today in Springfield said he will veto any bill to bail out CPS that does not allow all school districts in Illinois to take away all collective bargaining rights of teachers that may in any way have an economic impact on those school districts and their property taxes. Get ready for even more cuts than have been so far announced.
Rod Estvan