Curie Struggles With Principal Fallout
- Producing Organization
- WBEZ
- Contributing Organization
- WBEZ (Chicago, Illinois)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/50-9995xjpg
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- Description
- Description
- Its been a rough few weeks at Chicago's Curie High School. The ousting of Curie's principal--and the bitter public debate surrounding the move--has left teachers and students stuck in the crossfire. They don't get the logic behind the decision and worry it will erode the school culture that's helped give Curie a shot at success. Chicago Public Radio's Jay Field reports. -- A lot has changed since Principal Jerrilyn Jones took over at Curie eight years ago. Here are the hard numbers: attendance and graduation rates up, dropouts down and an overall rise in test scores. Lisa Ehrlich teaches British Literature at Curie. Lisa Ehrlich: There's anger. If she's doing so well, what is going on? It's a question Ehrlich and many of her colleagues have been asking for weeks now. Teacher Sarah Miller says Jones' removal makes no sense. Sarah Miller: I love my job. The kids are great. The atmosphere at school is great. I'm a drama teacher. We have a great performing arts department. There's lots of things we can do with the kids, after school. Miller credits Jones with creating a wholistic, supportive school culture. Her colleague Ehrlich worries about what will happen if Jones actually leaves in the fall. Lisa Ehrlich: What does that mean for us as teachers? What does that mean for students? What does that mean for the direction the school is going as a whole? It's an everyday struggle with students who really want to be here and really want to learn. The local school council at Curie hasn't revealed why it voted to remove Jones. But the council's Latino members led the effort to oust Jones, who's Black. So in the absence of other information, rumors of racism are spreading through the halls and bubbling to the surface in classroom discussions. Ashley Fisher: This is an Hispanic school. Sophmore Ashley Fisher, who's Black, lectures fellow students in Sarah Miller's drama class. Ashley Fisher: There's a lot of Hispanics here. And a lot of Hispanic parents want a Hispanic principal. But regardless of the fact..it is a lot of race stuff. Curie is a racist school. Point blank. Curie is a racist school and you can't deny it. As Fisher says this, a pained expression comes over Miller's face. But before she can say anything, other students jump in. Curie has had its share of conflict between Black and Latino students over the years. But the school has also worked very hard to defuse this tension. Jones firing, and the rumors of racism swirling around it, are presenting some tough choices for classroom teachers like Lisa Ehrlich. Lisa Ehrlich: Teaching is one part academic and a whole bunch of parts dealing with these kids lives. And this is a huge impact on these kids' lives because they're seeing that, you know, stuff is changing in front of them. Fighting against it, going with it, whatever. And that's something we have to deal with because that's a learning experience. But then, we have to get our curriculum in. And it's--it's difficult for the kids to focus. Ehrlich knows the distraction isn't going away for now. Legal wrangling over Jones' fate is likely to last into the summer. The LSC-Principal tug-of-war is something Ehrlich is all too familiar with. Last year, she taught at another city high school that went through a similar fight. Its a big reason she left and came to Curie. I'm Jay Field, Chicago Public Radio
- Media type
- Sound
- Credits
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: WBEZ
Editor: Drew Hill
Producing Organization: WBEZ
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ-FM) and Vocalo.org
Identifier: (unknown)
Format: audio/mpeg
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Curie Struggles With Principal Fallout,” WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 23, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-9995xjpg.
- MLA: “Curie Struggles With Principal Fallout.” WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 23, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-9995xjpg>.
- APA: Curie Struggles With Principal Fallout. Boston, MA: WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-9995xjpg