Friday, May 05, 2006
Distributing School Resources in Chicago
I keep hearing that Chicago schools don’t have enough money.
Our Crystal Lake United Methodist Men’s group is even sending guys to help completely re-paint a Chicago school June 10th, instead of having its regular monthly breakfast meeting. (We have a member, Scott Goodwin, who is working with IBM’s Chicago Cares project.)
Maybe it’s not that Chicago schools don’t have enough money.
Maybe it is a repeat of what Harold Washington proved was happening in Chicago parks when he and I were state representatives in the 1970’s.
Washington sponsored a bill that would require the Chicago Park District to spend its money equally across the city. You can imagine that the ethnic Chicago Democrats were none too pleased at Harold’s attempt to intervene. There wasn’t even the ”hook” that parks got state financial assistance.
Washington passed the bill, but only with the help of suburban whites like me.
What I heard Wednesday on WBEZ-FM makes me wonder if the same disparity is not occurring with money the Chicago school system spends.
On the way home from swimming, my 8-year-old son and I listened attentively to Chicago public radio’s “Science Sisters” documentary.
It featured two girls from 100 year-old Farragut High School (now called a “Career Academy”) who entered the city’s science fair.
They were compared to the traditional big winners in the competition from 100-year-old Lincoln Park.
What astounded me was that Farragut only has one modern science lab, while Lincoln Park has 10.
Guess which school won the Science Fair.
(Farragut doesn't have a web site or I would have put its picture up opposite Lincoln Park's.)
Is it time for some Black or Latino Caucus member to follow in Harold’s footsteps?
Our Crystal Lake United Methodist Men’s group is even sending guys to help completely re-paint a Chicago school June 10th, instead of having its regular monthly breakfast meeting. (We have a member, Scott Goodwin, who is working with IBM’s Chicago Cares project.)
Maybe it’s not that Chicago schools don’t have enough money.
Maybe it is a repeat of what Harold Washington proved was happening in Chicago parks when he and I were state representatives in the 1970’s.Washington sponsored a bill that would require the Chicago Park District to spend its money equally across the city. You can imagine that the ethnic Chicago Democrats were none too pleased at Harold’s attempt to intervene. There wasn’t even the ”hook” that parks got state financial assistance.
Washington passed the bill, but only with the help of suburban whites like me.
What I heard Wednesday on WBEZ-FM makes me wonder if the same disparity is not occurring with money the Chicago school system spends.
On the way home from swimming, my 8-year-old son and I listened attentively to Chicago public radio’s “Science Sisters” documentary.
It featured two girls from 100 year-old Farragut High School (now called a “Career Academy”) who entered the city’s science fair. They were compared to the traditional big winners in the competition from 100-year-old Lincoln Park.
What astounded me was that Farragut only has one modern science lab, while Lincoln Park has 10.Guess which school won the Science Fair.
(Farragut doesn't have a web site or I would have put its picture up opposite Lincoln Park's.)
Is it time for some Black or Latino Caucus member to follow in Harold’s footsteps?
Labels: Chicago Park District, Chicago Schools, Farragut High School, First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Harold Washington, Lincoln Park High School, Science Sisters, United Methodist Men, WBEZ
