Making the Grade; Chicago School Reform: All Power to the Parents?

<v Announcer>Production funds for this program were provided in part by the Lloyd A. <v Announcer>Fry Foundation. <v Parent 2>[music] If this council doesn't work with this school, you will not have this school. <v Speaker> To uphold the duties and the responsibilities <v Speaker>of the local school councils. <v Willie Bond>They are as intelligent as you are. <v Speaker>If we fight among one another, how are we gonna help these children? <v Speaker>We wanna teach 'em. We can't teach. <v Speaker>What is this council really going to be designed for? <v Speaker>What is your purpose? <v Parent 3>Only thing that is worth while saving is the children. Let everything else go to hell. <v Speaker>Tonight on WTTW Journal, a trip through Chicago school reforms, <v Speaker>first year. All power to the parents. <v Royal Kennedy>Good evening. I'm Royal Kennedy. <v Royal Kennedy>In the fall of 1989, 6000 Chicagoans began a revolution in American <v Royal Kennedy>education. They were the elected members of Chicago's brand new local school councils, <v Royal Kennedy>one for every public school in the city, each with two teachers, two community

<v Royal Kennedy>representatives and six parents. <v Royal Kennedy>Who with their principal were given unprecedented power to reform their children's <v Royal Kennedy>failing school system. Tonight, we followed two of these councils through their first <v Royal Kennedy>year. We won't learn tonight whether school reform will succeed. <v Royal Kennedy>That might take years. And we won't see many students or even hear much talk about <v Royal Kennedy>education. For mostly, this is a story of pure grassroots democracy. <v Royal Kennedy>How parents, average people, struggle with power and politics in their new roles <v Royal Kennedy>as public officials in Chicago schools. <v Royal Kennedy>The schools we followed are located in two of Chicago's poorer neighborhoods because <v Royal Kennedy>the students here really have no other choice but public education. <v Royal Kennedy>And if school reform is to work, it must work here. <v Royal Kennedy>[music] <v Sylvia Peters>I've been the principal of the school since January 19. <v Royal Kennedy>October 18th, 1989. <v Royal Kennedy>The first meeting of the Alexander Dumas Elementary Local School Council. <v Sylvia Peters>Schools are much better when parents

<v Sylvia Peters>and community people are involved. <v Royal Kennedy>Sylvia Peters is a longtime supporter of school reform. <v Royal Kennedy>For the past six years, she's been principal at Dumas in the South Side's Woodlawn <v Royal Kennedy>community. <v Sylvia Peters>In a sense, we really are empowered as a group to be to be in control of <v Sylvia Peters>what happens to these children. <v Royal Kennedy>And tonight, the 11 new members of the Dumas Council share their vision for those <v Royal Kennedy>children. <v Veronica Kyle>That every child has the opportunity to compete for the best <v Veronica Kyle>high schools in the country. <v Royal Kennedy>Veronica Kyle has a son in the seventh grade at Dumas. <v Regina Pettis>I want it to be vibrant. I want it to be alive, loving, creative. <v Regina Pettis>There's so many programs and things we can do. <v Royal Kennedy>Regina Pettis is a community representative. <v Peggy Bartlett>I'm here because I don't know any other place to be. <v Peggy Bartlett>[laughs] This is my home. <v Royal Kennedy>Peggy Bartlett is a mother of two, who volunteers in the Dumas Kindergarten every day. <v Royal Kennedy>Tonight, Bartlett is elected council chair. <v William Ayers>I think that Dumas is a school that is poised to take advantage of school

<v William Ayers>reform. That is to say- <v Royal Kennedy>In the 60s and 70s. William Ayers and fellow radical Bernadine Dorn were members <v Royal Kennedy>of the Weather Underground. <v Royal Kennedy>Ayers is now an assistant professor of education and helped write the school reform act. <v William Ayers>And one of the things you notice about Duma's right away is that they have <v William Ayers>they they have a sense of value at the core of what they do and they have a sense <v William Ayers>of high expectations. <v Sylvia Peters>Do you think we could open up the meeting a little more so that we could hear more from <v Sylvia Peters>our parents about what they want the local school council to do? <v Sylvia Peters>Because I think-. <v Royal Kennedy>But Sylvia Peter's efforts to involve other parents soon backfires. <v Parent 1>And not to sound like I'm, you know, I want to be a troublemaker, but I'm genuinely <v Parent 1>concerned about what goes on with my child. And I feel that I should be able to do that. <v Parent 1>So, you know, when I ask you that question, what is this council really going to be <v Parent 1>designed for? What is your purpose? <v Veronica Kyle>Any parent sitting out here who has a concern about their child <v Veronica Kyle>and want to make sure that this council hears your concern,

<v Veronica Kyle>that you rise up and serve on the committee. <v Veronica Kyle>Be involved working. <v Parent 1>Right now I'm not exactly employed right now, so I have plenty of time to come to these <v Parent 1>meetings. But doing an average day when I'm working. <v Parent 1>I don't have no time to come down here and piddany around um committees and all your <v Parent 1>so-called whatever fundraisers might come up. <v Parent 2>This is not a petty situation. <v Royal Kennedy>But others in the audience say parents must support the council. <v Parent 2>If this council doesn't work with this school. <v Parent 2>You will not have this school. <v Parent 2>You will not have any black school. Any minority school. <v Parent 2>You'll only have what other people want you have. <v Parent 2>So don't just start here tonight and start this petty stuff. <v Parent 2>If you got a chip on your shoulder, get it off. <v Royal Kennedy>Sylvia Peters is disgusted that the meeting has gotten out of hand. <v Royal Kennedy>Though Peggy Bartlet is now the chairperson, it is Peters who tries to get the meeting <v Royal Kennedy>back on track. <v Sylvia Peters>Now, I think there are things that we need to rally around <v Sylvia Peters>tonight. And we're sitting here arguing about nonsense.

<v Sylvia Peters>We We're not even respecting each other. <v Sylvia Peters>Why do you want to to gather around adversarial concerns? <v Sylvia Peters>That is what keeps us divided as a race of people. <v Sylvia Peters>Come on, get it together. <v Sylvia Peters>I don't permit the children to carry on this way. <v Parent 3>Reason I got on this council is for one reason only. <v Parent 3>It's about a brother, 20 years ago, named Marvin <v Parent 3>Gaye said, what's going on? <v Parent 3>That our children, what a shame. <v Parent 3>What a way to live. <v Parent 3>If we do not save our children, there will be no tomorrow for us. <v Parent 3>This is why we're in this position right now. <v Parent 3>This system has taken us up in the air like a eagle, and taken <v Parent 3>us off the nest which we have been sitting in for the last 40 years. <v Parent 3>He said you fly or you die.

<v Parent 3>So I'm saying the only thing worth while saving is the children. <v Parent 3>Let everything else go to hell. [applause] <v Royal Kennedy>It's a very different scene at the first meeting of the local school council at George <v Royal Kennedy>Collins High School in the West Side's Lawndale community. <v Willie Bond>A majority of the full membership of the local school council shall- <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond has been principal at Collins since 1985 and has taught and <v Royal Kennedy>worked in Lawndale schools for 30 years. <v Willie Bond>Is Monday a problem for anyone? <v Willie Bond>What about Tuesday? <v Royal Kennedy>But there are no pep talks about school reform at tonight's council meeting. <v Royal Kennedy>Only time to schedule meetings and elect officers. <v Speaker>Yes, I'd like to nominate Mrs. Gloria Harris as our chairperson. <v Willie Bond>Ms. Gloria Harris. <v Royal Kennedy>Besides Gloria Harris, two other parents are nominated for chairperson, but they <v Royal Kennedy>declined. <v Willie Bond>Eleven to zero. <v Willie Bond>Mrs. Harris congratulations Miss Harris. [congratulations] <v Royal Kennedy>Gloria Harris has a daughter at Collins and another who recently graduated.

<v Royal Kennedy>She's been active at the school for years, as have many others on the Collins Council. <v Royal Kennedy>As chairperson, Harris will face some tough challenges, including poor morale <v Royal Kennedy>among Collins teachers. <v Coretta McFarren>I know that Collins has been plagued with problems. <v Coretta McFarren>I'm hoping- <v Royal Kennedy>Coretta McFarren is a leader in the city's school reform movement. <v Coretta McFarren>There was never an opportunity for a staff to come together and and <v Coretta McFarren>just coalesce around uh any particular problem in this school, <v Coretta McFarren>or they never had an opportunity to have input on the curriculum or the structure <v Coretta McFarren>of the school day and that kind of thing. <v Coretta McFarren>So this provides, this opens all new avenues. <v Royal Kennedy>That may be why teachers outnumber parents in the audience at tonight's council meeting, <v Royal Kennedy>but they won't get a chance to talk tonight. <v Willie Bond>The move by Ms. Hardaway and second by Mrs. Fredrickson that the meet stand adjourned <v Willie Bond>and so ordered. Congratulations. <v Royal Kennedy>The meeting ends after only 45 minutes, but the new council members feel <v Royal Kennedy>truly empowered.

<v Clementine Hardaway>We have like firsthand stuff what we can do now, you know, really get involved, like I <v Clementine Hardaway>said hiring and firing principals, and that kinda thing, I don't know if we're gonna get <v Clementine Hardaway>involved in that but we'll actually be able to do some real hands-on kind of things for <v Clementine Hardaway>the school. And I think it's important to all of us, not just the parents that are here. <v Clementine Hardaway>Everybody is excited. <v Gloria Harris>Yes. I think reform will work. It may not. <v Gloria Harris>You know, I don't know all about reform. <v Gloria Harris>I have some idea about reform and some <v Gloria Harris>of it I don't understand. <v Gloria Harris>But I think even if it doesn't work, it should put something on the minds <v Gloria Harris>of the parents. <v Gloria Harris>So it makes me want to come out and work. <v Gloria Harris>[music] <v Royal Kennedy>To many the massive Board of Education headquarters on Pershing Road is a symbol of <v Royal Kennedy>what's wrong with Chicago's schools. <v Royal Kennedy>By comparison, Chicago Catholic Schools in 1987 had just one administrator <v Royal Kennedy>for every 6000 students. <v Royal Kennedy>The board had 48 for every 6000. <v Royal Kennedy>And while the bureaucracy was bulging, the number of students was dropping and test

<v Royal Kennedy>scores were plummeting. <v Royal Kennedy>In a competitive global economy, Chicago schools were lagging far behind their <v Royal Kennedy>counterparts in other industrialized nations. <v Royal Kennedy>Teacher strikes were already routine and the U.S. <v Royal Kennedy>secretary of education had a low opinion of the system. <v William Bennett>It's not the worst. It's too darn close to the worst. <v William Bennett>I mean I don't know one worse. <v Royal Kennedy>It was time for a radical change, and that's just what the School Reform Act provided. <v Royal Kennedy>A shift of substantial control from this centralized bureaucracy to 540 <v Royal Kennedy>local school councils. These L.S.C.'s Would be dominated by parents <v Royal Kennedy>newly empowered to make decisions at the local school level. <v William Ayers>What's going on in Chicago is absolutely unique. <v William Ayers>It's the most far reaching and fundamental change that's ever been envisioned in a big <v William Ayers>city public school system. <v Dan Lewis>The Chicago reform is the most democratic <v Dan Lewis>of any that's been tried in the last 25 years. <v Royal Kennedy>Education Professor Dan Lewis says school reformers were out to break the back of the

<v Royal Kennedy>bloated bureaucracy. <v Dan Lewis>They saw a system that was insulated. <v Dan Lewis>They saw a system that excluded. <v Dan Lewis>They saw a system that was not responsive to outside pressure. <v Dan Lewis>And the new system is an attempt to do something about that. <v School Board Speaker 1>Today- <v Royal Kennedy>The success of this new system depends largely on the interim Chicago school board <v Royal Kennedy>in which the law has put in place to get reform on track. <v Royal Kennedy>This early November day, members of the interim board are frustrated with the Pershing <v Royal Kennedy>Road staff. <v School Board Speaker 2>Are you using every person here who has these skills? <v School Board Speaker 3>Every person that I can find, yes. <v Royal Kennedy>Nearly three weeks after the local school council elections, the staff has yet to <v Royal Kennedy>complete a printed guide to help the 540 LSC's get started. <v Royal Kennedy>This information is crucial to council members who know little about how schools operate, <v Royal Kennedy>and who often have little education themselves. Without the guide, the council's momentum <v Royal Kennedy>has ground to a halt. <v Joseph Reed>We went from just feeling that some of the key

<v Joseph Reed>players in the administration were inept <v Joseph Reed>to the fact that um we thought some of them were literally <v Joseph Reed>sabotaging the effort. <v Royal Kennedy>It's a battle that will be fought all year. <v Royal Kennedy>Council members seeking help from bureaucrats whose jobs are now threatened by reform. <v Royal Kennedy>George Munoz knows the school system inside out. <v George Munoz>All of a sudden, all the calls for decisions have never been <v George Munoz>greater. The demand for action at the central office has never been greater. <v George Munoz>And at the same time, people are being moved around, jobs eliminated, people removed out <v George Munoz>a central office. So the chaos was only natural. <v Royal Kennedy>Back in the trenches of school reform, local school councils are feeling their way as <v Royal Kennedy>they get down to business in November. <v Royal Kennedy>But for the council at Collins High School, the working session is cut short this night <v Royal Kennedy>when members are caught in the middle of a dispute between some staff members and <v Royal Kennedy>Principal Willie Bond. <v Penny Earl>Position number 64-

<v Willie Bond>Is closed. <v Penny Earl>051, and I have a right to know why it was closed. <v Royal Kennedy>Penny Earl until October, a library assistant at Collins wants to involve the council <v Royal Kennedy>in an appeal for her job. It was eliminated by Bond, who'd given Earl an unsatisfactory <v Royal Kennedy>review. By law the council isn't supposed to deal with hirings and firings <v Royal Kennedy>of staff. That's the principal's job. <v Royal Kennedy>But though this council wants to move on to other matters, it can't, as some staff <v Royal Kennedy>members in the audience take up Earl's cause. <v Mr. Bodie>Does Collins High School at this point, wait, does Collin High School at this point need <v Mr. Bodie>a position of library assistant? <v Willie Bond>I will never discuss administrative matters at a board meeting with people <v Willie Bond>that I supervise. That would be inappropriate. <v Peggy Bartlett>I'd like to call this order to meeting. <v Peggy Bartlett>This meeting to order. I'd like some order for our meeting, okay? <v Peggy Bartlett>[laughs]. <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas in November, the council gets a good turnout for its meeting, which is scheduled <v Royal Kennedy>the same day parents pick up their children's report cards.

<v Royal Kennedy>As with Collins and many other councils, the Dumas chairperson, Peggy Bartlett, <v Royal Kennedy>is struggling with parliamentary procedure. <v Peggy Bartlett>Call for the question, all those in favor of <v Peggy Bartlett>moving on to new business say aye. <v Crowd>Aye. <v Peggy Bartlett>All those opposed. <v Royal Kennedy>Tonight's new business comes from council member Timothy Thompson, the father of two <v Royal Kennedy>Dumas students. Brother Tim, as he is known, makes a stunning proposal <v Royal Kennedy>that the council adopt the so-called affirmation of thanks to the creator to <v Royal Kennedy>be said by students every day. <v Timothy Thompson>The children get to high school they have no resistance from the negativity <v Timothy Thompson>that that that this society uh puts on them, because <v Timothy Thompson>we have not taken the time to give them a sense of <v Timothy Thompson>identity with their maker. <v Timothy Thompson>And what I'm saying- <v Royal Kennedy>Brother Tim reads the affirmation he wants spoken in school each morning just before the

<v Royal Kennedy>Pledge of Allegiance and the Black National Anthem. <v Timothy Thompson>Thank you, God. Thank you, Father. <v Timothy Thompson>Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. <v Timothy Thompson>Thank you, mother. Thank you, Allah. <v Timothy Thompson>Thank you, Jehovah. Thank you, ?Eloween? Thank you, Yahweh, for this wonderful <v Timothy Thompson>and glorious day. <v Timothy Thompson>Every burden is now released. Every need is now fulfilled, every desire <v Timothy Thompson>is glorified and brought into perfect manifestation. <v Timothy Thompson>We give thanks for perfect life expressing within every cell, atom, muscle- <v Mr. Bodie>Does Collins High School- <v Willie Bond>Mr. Bodie. <v Mr. Bodie>need a library assistant? That's all. <v Willie Bond>Mr. Bodie. <v Mr. Bodie>Yes or no? <v Willie Bond>Mr Bodie, are you, do you believe that these 11 people here, including <v Willie Bond>this principal, is almost as intelligent as you and Miss Earl? <v Mr. Bodie>Don't insult me now. <v Penny Earl>You are insulting me. <v Willie Bond>We are just as intelligent as you are. <v Willie Bond>Stop, you keep try to tell these people how they supposed to act. <v Willie Bond>That you got all the sense. They are as intelligent as you are.

<v Willie Bond>[crowd arguing over each other] <v Clementine Hardaway>Make 'em stop now, Gloria now. Make 'em stop now. <v Timothy Thompson>Thank you Father God, Mother for your love, peace, joy, courage, <v Timothy Thompson>power, truth, patience, faith, and for the opportunity <v Timothy Thompson>to serve the Father, God, Mother lovingly and <v Timothy Thompson>cheerfully. <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas some parents support the concept of Brother Tim's affirmation, though <v Royal Kennedy>most council members are tentative. <v Speaker>We are serving in an institution that is slightly less costly on the issue of separation <v Speaker>of church and state. <v Timothy Thompson>No such thing. <v Speaker>And I don't want to debate it, Brother Tim, and I'm just seeing. <v Royal Kennedy>Brother Tim will persist all year on the afformation, but the council will essentially <v Royal Kennedy>leave it tabled. <v Speaker>Explain to me. <v Royal Kennedy>And at collins' the council stays out of the Penny Earl affair, but they are driven from <v Royal Kennedy>their meeting. <v Gloria Harris>I have to move to adjourn. <v Council Member>You wanna move to adjourn whatever you want to do, I'll second it. Year somewhere.

<v Council Member>[crowd talking] <v Willie Bond>Miss Harris, since the meeting is adjourned you have. <v Penny Earl>I'm talking to Mrs. Harris. <v Willie Bond>I'm talking to her. You have demonstrated that I made a great decision. [music] <v Royal Kennedy>If public education has failed in Chicago, its neighborhoods like Woodlawn, where Dumas <v Royal Kennedy>Elementary is located, that have suffered the most. <v Royal Kennedy>This is one of the city's poorest areas. <v Royal Kennedy>More than two thirds of Dumas's 650 students are poor enough to qualify for <v Royal Kennedy>free lunches. Yet there is at Dumas, an opportunity for academic nourishment <v Royal Kennedy>uncommon in Chicago schools, especially those in impoverished African-American <v Royal Kennedy>communities. Schoolchildren here can learn Spanish and Latin. <v Royal Kennedy>[violin] Suzuki violin and cello are taught side by side with social studies and <v Royal Kennedy>spelling, and while reading scores are generally low. <v Royal Kennedy>The 2nd and 8th grades are now reading at their grade levels a real accomplishment

<v Royal Kennedy>for an inner city school. <v Royal Kennedy>Many people believe its principal, Sylvia Peters, who's made the difference and with her <v Royal Kennedy>experience in the Chicago school system, Peters has an innate advantage that allows <v Royal Kennedy>her to lead the Dumas Local School Council in these early months, as a result, she <v Royal Kennedy>can shape its direction. <v Royal Kennedy>[choir singing] On this particular day, the children of Dumas are entertaining several <v Royal Kennedy>dozen Chicago principals who've come to learn about a cornerstone program at the school. <v Royal Kennedy>It's called Character Education, teaching children high moral values, <v Royal Kennedy>perseverance, integrity and self-respect. <v Sylvia Peters>The real turning point came at a time when I went to a conference and somebody <v Sylvia Peters>told me that black children didn't have any values. <v Sylvia Peters>I hit the ceiling. <v Sylvia Peters>I will not tolerate people talking about children, any kind of child. <v Sylvia Peters>Because they are not midget adults. <v Sylvia Peters>They are to be shaped and formed and molded and cracked

<v Sylvia Peters>and released and allowed to fly. <v Royal Kennedy>And in the midst of change, Peters reminds these visitors to keep their eyes on <v Royal Kennedy>the prize. <v Sylvia Peters>I do not care what the Board of Education does about school <v Sylvia Peters>reform. <v Sylvia Peters>I care about these children. <v Sylvia Peters>And if you show that you seriously care about <v Sylvia Peters>these children. <v Sylvia Peters>Can't do anything but win. <v Sylvia Peters>And you have to become a maniac with a message. <v Sylvia Peters>We need more maniacs with messages. <v Sylvia Peters>To me, school reform is going to be good for the city, and if you feel it's going to fail <v Sylvia Peters>that's what you're going to get is failure. <v Sylvia Peters>And if you feel it's gonna work, that's what you're gonna get. <v Sylvia Peters>You're gonna get something that works and something that looks good. <v Willie Bond>There's nothing in reform that brings anything to Collins that we didn't have <v Willie Bond>before reform, other than the council, but. <v Royal Kennedy>Across town and the community of Lawndale, Collins' Principal Willie Bond is also the

<v Royal Kennedy>dominant member of his local school council. <v Royal Kennedy>But having spent 30 years in the Chicago public school system, Bond is also suspicious <v Royal Kennedy>of reform. <v Willie Bond>Intent may not have anything to do with, <v Willie Bond>in its present form, with improvement of education. <v Willie Bond>I think there was some other intent here. <v Royal Kennedy>What's the intent? <v Willie Bond>Well, my gut feeling is there were too many black people in too many places at the <v Willie Bond>Board of Education. <v Willie Bond>Too many contracts going in the wrong direction and they need to adjust that. <v Willie Bond>The other thing, the reason I view it with <v Willie Bond>suspicion, the traditional black groups <v Willie Bond>that have been involved in everything that have happened in Chicago, <v Willie Bond>we're not involved in this process. <v Willie Bond>And I don't believe that's an accident. <v Royal Kennedy>Collins High School is by no means the worst school in the city, but going to it <v Royal Kennedy>is, to say the least, a challenge.

<v Royal Kennedy>Nearly two thirds of its students are poor. <v Royal Kennedy>Two out of every three fail one or more classes each semester. <v Royal Kennedy>One in three drops out for good. <v Royal Kennedy>But those who do come to school can take a variety of classes to enrich their education, <v Royal Kennedy>such as auto shop, business or an impressive graphic arts program. <v Royal Kennedy>And while some may look sadly at Lawndale's high rates of crime, poverty, drugs <v Royal Kennedy>and teenage pregnancies, Willie Bond is far more optimistic. <v Willie Bond>Everybody in Lawndale is not living in Lawndale because to have to. <v Willie Bond>There's an awful lot of people out there who chose to live in Lawndale by their choice. <v Willie Bond>There's an awful lot of kids who go to this school by choice. <v Royal Kennedy>And despite his suspicions of reform, Bond is hopeful. <v Willie Bond>I think any time any process that involve parents, <v Willie Bond>the possibility of good things happening is <v Willie Bond>there. The question will be, <v Willie Bond>can we make it happen?

<v Royal Kennedy>As the new year dawned, local school councils across the city were confused and <v Royal Kennedy>frustrated with administrators here at the school board headquarters. <v Royal Kennedy>Council saw this as a stubborn bureaucracy, obstructing, even sabotaging <v Royal Kennedy>local school council's efforts to gain the power the new school reform law was <v Royal Kennedy>supposed to give them. <v Ted Kimbrough>Ya know, coming to Chicago is a homecoming for me. <v Royal Kennedy>Enter Ted Kimbrough. The brand new superintendent of Chicago schools. <v Royal Kennedy>He has been brought here for more than 175000 dollars a year from Compton, <v Royal Kennedy>California, where he ran a school system less than 1/18th The size <v Royal Kennedy>of Chicago's. Hopes are high that Kimbrough can cut inefficiency and <v Royal Kennedy>nurture reform along. <v Speaker>So there is a matter of some urgency to have it done. <v Royal Kennedy>On this January day, Kimbro is here at schoolboard headquarters, attending his first <v Royal Kennedy>school board meeting. <v Royal Kennedy>Sylvia Peters is here, too. <v Royal Kennedy>She's emerged as a citywide leader in the school reform movement.

<v Royal Kennedy>And today she's come to speak for a coalition of groups which are fed up with the foot <v Royal Kennedy>dragging at Pershing Road. <v Sylvia Peters>Right now, there is a great deal of a confusion that exists. <v Sylvia Peters>We are told that schools. <v Royal Kennedy>Peters recites a litany of frustrations with the school board's central office <v Royal Kennedy>books sitting in warehouses when they're needed in classrooms, not useless paperwork, <v Royal Kennedy>textbooks that ignore all but white culture and an administration that <v Royal Kennedy>refuses to help. <v Sylvia Peters>It's like we have empowerment without <v Sylvia Peters>a clear way of being empowered and we need that and we <v Sylvia Peters>look to the Board of Education for that sense of empowerment. <v Sylvia Peters>Sir, you have a big job, but we're going to help you. <v Sylvia Peters>Truly, we are. <v Royal Kennedy>There is optimism at this first meeting of Kimbrough and his constituents. <v Royal Kennedy>But on the front lines, some councils are preparing for battle. <v Gloria Harris>Hello, Ms. [inaudible], How you doing? <v Gloria Harris>You ready to come to the meeting tonight? <v Royal Kennedy>On this Friday afternoon, Chairperson Gloria Harris sits with her two daughters as she

<v Royal Kennedy>prepares for a special meeting of the Collins Local School Council. <v Royal Kennedy>Harris wants to discuss what she calls Mr. Bond's tactics, namely Principal <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bonds hiring of counsel Secretary Clementine Hardaway as a community <v Royal Kennedy>liaison at Collins. Hardaway has sent a letter of resignation to the council. <v Royal Kennedy>But Harris and others are angry that Bond never notified them that Hardaway had been <v Royal Kennedy>hired. <v Gloria Harris>It's like we are not being acknowledged as a council. <v Gloria Harris>So it made me very angry. <v Gloria Harris>We were friends before we became a council. <v Gloria Harris>He makes enemies of us, he's doing a lot of things to us and we feel, <v Gloria Harris>I think it's all Mr. Bond's doing. <v Gloria Harris>Ms. Brewer, would you please do a roll call for me, please? <v Royal Kennedy>The council meets that night and accepts Clementine Hardaway's resignation. <v Royal Kennedy>By law, she must step down since she now gets a salary from the Board of Education. <v Royal Kennedy>But then the meeting takes a bizarre turn. <v Royal Kennedy>Harris is upset because the words rollcall appear on tonight's typed agenda prepared

<v Royal Kennedy>by teacher and council member Tyrone Jordan. <v Gloria Harris>If it's up to me to put out the agenda, I want it put out as I write it as ?staying? <v Gloria Harris>And this agenda I did not put roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>Maybe I'm responsible for that. <v Tyrone Jordan>I just followed the previous one. I didn't mean to mean any harm by puttng roll call. <v Gloria Harris>Previous ones don't have roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>In the book that we found, I'd just said roll call but if you want it <v Tyrone Jordan>I'll never put it in there again. I've sinned. <v Tyrone Jordan>I'm sorry. Call the meeting going to roll call. <v Royal Kennedy>Harris thinks that Jordan went behind her back to bond with the controversial agenda. <v Gloria Harris>Mr. Bond is not the chairperson. <v Gloria Harris>He is not responsible for this agenda. <v Tyrone Jordan>Really you should give me some credit for trying to help you. Don't sit up here and slam <v Tyrone Jordan>me in front of all these people. Trying to act like I went to Mr. Bond and changed the <v Tyrone Jordan>agenda. <v Gloria Harris>I didn't say you changed. <v Tyrone Jordan>Just putting something down there, just roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>I mean, that's kind of small, don't you think? <v Gloria Harris>I think it's very small the way the whole thing was handled. <v Tyrone Jordan>It is and I don't even understand this. You come to me and you say you're the only one

<v Tyrone Jordan>trying to help me. Now you're gonna attack me. <v Gloria Harris>That's true. <v Tyrone Jordan>That true? You said that and now you gonna publicly attack me because I <v Tyrone Jordan>put roll call. <v Gloria Harris>I am publicly attacking you because you took the agenda to Mr. Bonds. <v Royal Kennedy>Though, several members tried to change the subject, the heated argument over roll call <v Royal Kennedy>continues for more than a quarter of an hour. <v Gloria Harris>I mean. <v Willie Bond>No one has ever requested. <v Willie Bond>This is my first time to see the agenda. <v Royal Kennedy>Finally, they get onto the main order of business. <v Royal Kennedy>The showdown over Mr. Bond's tactics. <v Gloria Harris>The meeting was called because Mr. Bonds has on one occasion <v Gloria Harris>he closed a position. On a second occasion, he opened one without <v Gloria Harris>informing the council. <v Royal Kennedy>The law doesn't require a principal to consult council members on most hirings and <v Royal Kennedy>firings, but it soon becomes clear that the school's hiring of Hardaway <v Royal Kennedy>and the earlier closing of Penny Earl's position in the library are not the fundamental <v Royal Kennedy>issues here. This meeting is about mistrust.

<v Royal Kennedy>Mistrust among council members. <v Royal Kennedy>Suspicion between council members and principal bond. <v Royal Kennedy>And deception among the LSC, Bond and Collins' demoralized <v Royal Kennedy>faculty who, as usual, outnumber parents in the audience. <v Gloria Harris>And we feel insulted by his tactics because, too, <v Gloria Harris>he's causing deceit between the council members and staff. <v Gloria Harris>His tactic should have a procedure to hiring, <v Gloria Harris>firing or whatever. <v Royal Kennedy>But parent, Shirley Deere, up to now, Gloria Harris's close ally, says <v Royal Kennedy>she believes the job Clementine Hardaway got was wanted by certain council members <v Royal Kennedy>who are now jealous. <v Shirley Deere>It is a position that was open, and if any of us wanted it, we could <v Shirley Deere>have gotten it. <v Royal Kennedy>And this is not just a difference of opinion, but a family matter about Clementine <v Royal Kennedy>Hardaway is Deere's own sister,. <v Shirley Deere>And I am sick and tired of this mess that's going on up here in this school. <v Shirley Deere>How can we put signs up versin' this principle here?

<v Shirley Deere>And the children are seeing it and they going around talking about it. <v Shirley Deere>If we fightin among one another how can we help these children? <v Shirley Deere>If we upset the teachers upset and the children are upset so let, you know what we gonna <v Shirley Deere>get? Zip. <v Shirley Deere>We can not help it, no I'm not finished. We- <v Gloria Harris>Thank you, Miss Deere. <v Shirley Deere>That's right. This is a true fact. <v Shirley Deere>Wait a minute. I'm not through now. I'm not through. Y'all asked me if I had anything to <v Shirley Deere>say. So let me get through. <v Shirley Deere>Let me get through. Everybody done talked and they done fussed. <v Shirley Deere>Let me talk. Let me talk. <v Shirley Deere>Well, well, if you didn't say nothin' then that's your problem. Truthfully, Miss Harris <v Shirley Deere>and I have been friends and I want it to stay like that, but no one never called <v Shirley Deere>me and told me about this meeting. So I know that everybody had got together and talk <v Shirley Deere>among one another. <v Royal Kennedy>Finally Willie Bond says the job was approved by a parent advisory group the previous <v Royal Kennedy>spring, but Bond is also frustrated. <v Willie Bond>Whatever information you want, you may have it. <v Willie Bond>But you have provided me only one opportunity to give you information, and that's at the <v Willie Bond>monthly meeting, which mean most of the thing that transpired from day to day.

<v Willie Bond>How do I come communicate that to you? <v Willie Bond>If you give me a procedure I would love to follow. <v Royal Kennedy>Still reeling from the earlier skirmish over the agenda, teacher Tyrone Jordan <v Royal Kennedy>advises the council to get its act together. <v Tyrone Jordan>Local school council sets policies. <v Tyrone Jordan>The principal carries out the day to day operations of the school. <v Tyrone Jordan>I really asked other principals and tried to find out what was going on in their schools. <v Tyrone Jordan>And I think as it's a it's a willing for power. I think people are kind of tripping. <v Tyrone Jordan>And there are some things that if we don't sit down and really <v Tyrone Jordan>start respecting one another and appreciating each other, it'll be better. <v Tyrone Jordan>I think that we're going to have some serious problems. <v Tyrone Jordan>We have an opportunity to do something for these kids. <v Tyrone Jordan>Please, let's try to do that. <v Royal Kennedy>The stormy meeting wraps up with a motion requiring Willie Bond to post job <v Royal Kennedy>openings and notify the council when he phases out a position. <v Royal Kennedy>It passes unanimously.

<v Royal Kennedy>But after this night's meeting, friendships between certain council members will never be <v Royal Kennedy>the same. [music]. <v Royal Kennedy>With February comes the most crucial decision that many local school councils in Chicago <v Royal Kennedy>will make this year, whether to keep their principals for another four years <v Royal Kennedy>or fire them. [school children chanting] <v Donald Kriz>The entire school is out on the street. There were over 950 youngsters and <v Donald Kriz>they wouldn't go in until I arrived. <v Royal Kennedy>Donald Kriz is principal of Burns Elementary School in Chicago's Little Village <v Royal Kennedy>neighborhood here. Like it, half the schools in the city, the local school council <v Royal Kennedy>must now decide whether to keep its principal or let him go. <v Royal Kennedy>The remainder of the schools will decide next year. <v Royal Kennedy>Like many councils, the Burns LSC members view this as a chance to flex their political <v Royal Kennedy>muscle for the first time as public officials, after years of frustration <v Royal Kennedy>and powerlessness. <v Royal Kennedy>Burns students are almost all Hispanic from low income families here, as in other

<v Royal Kennedy>Hispanic neighborhoods, the sense of grassroots empowerment is intense. <v Royal Kennedy>Faced with overcrowded schools, groups like the United Neighborhood Organization <v Royal Kennedy>or UNO rally Hispanics to come out and vote in the LSC elections. <v Maria Elena Montes>It's the first time in history that Hispanics will be able to come out <v Maria Elena Montes>and vote in an election without being registered voters and without having <v Maria Elena Montes>to prove that they've got a green card. <v Maria Elena Montes>We are finally going to be able to hold principals accountable. <v Royal Kennedy>The result has been majority Hispanic councils that are now taking full advantage. <v Daniel Solis>It's in our self-interest, there's individually and Hispanics as a whole <v Daniel Solis>to participate in this because it means power, it means money, it means resources, it <v Daniel Solis>means influence. <v Royal Kennedy>And a potential for conflict in the shaky marriages of councils and principals <v Royal Kennedy>from different ethnic backgrounds. <v George Munoz>If the whole push for reform was a dissatisfaction of how things <v George Munoz>have occurred, the likelihood is that you're going to want to have councils change

<v George Munoz>principals. Otherwise, if you had all councils agree with the principals that they had in <v George Munoz>there, you're basically going to say, why did we want reform if everybody was happy? <v Rosemary Romero>We weren't treated with respect at all. <v Royal Kennedy>Rosemary Romero and William Valez are leaders of the Burns School Council, <v Royal Kennedy>and they are angry at Donald Kriz. <v Donald Kriz>The principal is the chief executive officer of the school. <v Royal Kennedy>Kriz has been principal at Burns for the past 10 years. <v Royal Kennedy>Many feel he's done a good job under tough circumstances. <v Royal Kennedy>He went to Burns as a kid, has worked in the school system for 30 years <v Royal Kennedy>and now feels he knows what's best for the school. <v William Velez>The first words that Mr. Kriz told to this council when we took place in the school <v William Velez>was that he was the only one to state policies in that school, that <v William Velez>make the policies and not the council. <v Donald Kriz>Their interpretation of the word cooperation, was that I turn over <v Donald Kriz>the complete control of this school to them. <v Donald Kriz>That is not my definition of cooperation.

<v Donald Kriz>Now now, should their definition prevail, then I will admit that I am non-cooperative. <v Royal Kennedy>George Munoz says that this is a typical stalemate that many new councils and old line <v Royal Kennedy>principals have faced all year. <v George Munoz>They didn't mix well. There was a feeling that of none communication and therefore <v George Munoz>those councils responded accordingly. <v Royal Kennedy>In late February, the Burn's Council tells Kriz that he will not be automatically <v Royal Kennedy>rehired, that if he wants to be principal, he'll have to apply along with other <v Royal Kennedy>candidates. The move angers Kriz's supporters. <v Rosemary Romero>They call, hang up. They're threatening my family and myself if you don't <v Rosemary Romero>change your votes. You're gonna be sorry. Your family's gonna be sorry. <v Royal Kennedy>Violence never materializes. <v Royal Kennedy>But some members windows are broken. <v Royal Kennedy>These council members are also learning a new lesson. <v Royal Kennedy>Their power makes them accountable and now unpopular. <v Royal Kennedy> It is now April 8. <v Royal Kennedy>Only days before the council decides on Kriz's reapplication. <v Royal Kennedy>Today, he checks attendance after a two day student boycott in support of him.

<v Royal Kennedy>A boycott some council members feel he orchestrated. <v Donald Kriz>Who took a couple of days vacation? <v Donald Kriz>Put your hands up. OK. <v Donald Kriz>I'm glad to see you all back. Thanks so much. <v Donald Kriz>Kriz suspects the real reason for the council's conflict with him is because he is not <v Donald Kriz>Hispanic and does not speak Spanish. <v Donald Kriz>It became very apparent with the initial meetings that there <v Donald Kriz>was going to be an agenda that would include my being removed <v Donald Kriz>from the school. <v Royal Kennedy>UNO's Danny Solis says that's ludicrous. <v Daniel Solis>I really don't care who these councils pick pick as long as they pick the best possible <v Daniel Solis>individual to be their principal of that school. <v Royal Kennedy>And eventually, a citywide study shows no pattern of racism in the selection of <v Royal Kennedy>principals. But many still think it's unfair that there are no set guidelines <v Royal Kennedy>a council must follow to judge its principals performance. <v Royal Kennedy>Under the School Reform Act principals lost their tenure, but are now suing to get it <v Royal Kennedy>back. Bruce Berendt of the Chicago Principals Association

<v Royal Kennedy>suggests that an LSC support of a principal may depend more on politics <v Royal Kennedy>than merit. <v Bruce Berendt>This is one of the things I think that the sort of governance plan <v Bruce Berendt>lends itself to to become political power basis for various groups <v Bruce Berendt>rather than dealing with whether or not this person is a good quality principal. <v Royal Kennedy>Even so, 80 percent of the city's LSC's have voted this month to automatically <v Royal Kennedy>rehire their principals. <v Royal Kennedy>Longtime education reporter Linda Lenz says there's a reason. <v Linda Linz>I think there are many councils that were looking to their principal for leadership and <v Linda Linz>guidance, and they didn't want to get rid of that individual because they needed him or <v Linda Linz>her. <v Royal Kennedy>In fact, at Dumas Elementary School this February, council members make it clear they <v Royal Kennedy>need Sylvia Peters and vote unanimously to renew her contract. <v Willie Bond>My assumption was the rest were satisfied with the response they got from the teachers. <v Royal Kennedy>The decision on Collins principal Willie Bond won't come until a year from now. <v Royal Kennedy>Like Donald Kriz it's a case of a veteran principal facing increasing scrutiny

<v Royal Kennedy>from a council that will ultimately have the last word on his job. <v Donald Kriz>Everybody have a good weekend now. <v Donald Kriz>We're going to give it a shot. We'll see. It's up to uh, up to the people now. <v Royal Kennedy>At Burns that last word arrives in early spring. <v Royal Kennedy>His application for principal is turned down. <v Royal Kennedy>And despite no formal evaluation, Donald Kriz is out of a job. <v Royal Kennedy>Voteu out by the Burns Local School Council. <v Donald Kriz>OK, guys, take care. <v Donald Kriz>See you later. <v Royal Kennedy>March 17th, Dumas Council members are at a weekend retreat learning <v Royal Kennedy>how to work as a group. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Some people fought hard for you to have this oppportunity. <v Royal Kennedy>The retreat is led by Joan <v Royal Kennedy>Jeter Slay, a member of the interim school board and the leader of Designs for Change, <v Royal Kennedy>a school advocacy group that's pushed long and hard for school reform. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And legislator said lady you crazy. You can't hand parents this kind of power. They don't have the education, they can't do it.

<v Royal Kennedy>Slay is here to teach the Dumas Council about their roles <v Royal Kennedy>and responsibilities under school reform and about laws and regulations that apply to <v Royal Kennedy>schools. This is the kind of guidance that all school councils have needed from day one. <v Speaker>Below are listed the fifteen items left intact and undamaged after <v Speaker>landing. <v Royal Kennedy>This morning, the Dumas Council members go through an exercise in group decision making. <v Royal Kennedy>They pretend to be astronauts who have crash landed on the moon. <v Royal Kennedy>Slay gives the group a list of 15 items things like oxygen, water, <v Royal Kennedy>a heater and a gun. <v Royal Kennedy>Together they must rank them in their order of importance as survival tools. <v Timothy Thompson>So if we have water, we have an opportunity to reach our objective <v Timothy Thompson>through reasoning, see if we lose our water we sorta short <v Timothy Thompson>circuits ourselves. <v Royal Kennedy>This is not easy. <v Royal Kennedy>It takes the group more than an hour to compromise on a final list. <v Tyrone Jordan>Now we're down to twelve and eleven.

<v Tyrone Jordan>So which one? The milk or the gun? <v Multiple Members>Eleven. Eleven for the gun. Eleven for the gun. <v Multiple Members>You can tell we live in the city. [laughs] <v Royal Kennedy>The real lesson here is the process of deciding things together. <v Royal Kennedy>And after the group is finished. Slay finds some fault with the way it handled that. <v Joan Jeter Slay>You started out declaring concensus [coughs] and that's just what happens in meetings. <v Joan Jeter Slay>People say, uh well maybe six people say <v Joan Jeter Slay>yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And these are the articulate people and they say that's right, until a person says, <v Joan Jeter Slay>okay, moving right along. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And somebody like this lady is sitting right there didn't open her mouth. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Hadn't said a word. And we just going marching along. <v Joan Jeter Slay>See we have a tendency to say, okay, <v Joan Jeter Slay>majority rule. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And as a minority person, that bothers me, hey, wait

<v Joan Jeter Slay>a minute. Somebody's speaking over here. <v Joan Jeter Slay>I think that people have to become conscious of that. <v Speaker>I heard a lot of "we's" at the end of this that I didn't hear the beginning, including <v Speaker>with myself, because I said, how am I going to survive? <v Royal Kennedy>And if local school councils are going to survive Slay says, they must listen and <v Royal Kennedy>learn from every member. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Your mommas probbaly tould you as my momma did, two heads are better than one. And I though all junk, it's not all junk. It's the truth. Cooperation. Collaboration. Is essential. <v Speaker>What we would like to do is break up instead of going <v Speaker>into new business. We'd like to break up in committees now and <v Speaker>see can we get your input, suggestions, or comments? <v Royal Kennedy>And sure enough, at the monthly council meeting, the retreat's effect is clear. <v Royal Kennedy>Parents and council members break into committees to talk about specific school projects. <v Royal Kennedy>There is a fundraising committee.

<v Speaker>People buy the those. <v Speaker>They costs us a quarter we sell for 50 cents and they go fast. <v Royal Kennedy>One for parental recruitment. <v Speaker>Uh textbook selection. <v Royal Kennedy>And one for the affirmation. <v Timothy Thompson>We're not affirming a prayer, OK, we're just affirming praises and thanksgiving to a positive and unification of the family. That's all we doing. <v Royal Kennedy>The council tonight is trying to build a consensus about the things it wants to do. <v Royal Kennedy>Now, the question is, can it keep up this momentum? <v Royal Kennedy>[music] <v Royal Kennedy>With spring blooming and graduation day fast approaching, the picture of school reform <v Royal Kennedy>continues to develop controversy. <v Royal Kennedy>First, there are calls for the deputy mayor of education, Lourdes Monty Goudeau, to <v Royal Kennedy>resign after she's quoted as saying, "Chicago public schools aren't good enough <v Royal Kennedy>for her daughter," who attends a private school. <v Royal Kennedy>Then protesters camp out at city hall after Mayor Daley <v Royal Kennedy>rejects most nominees for the new Chicago School Board, which are scheduled to be in <v Royal Kennedy>place by May 15th.

<v Ted Kimbrough>I am announcing today that. <v Royal Kennedy>And finally, Superintendent Ted Kimbrough announces he'll move hundreds of school <v Royal Kennedy>administrators to new district service centers around the city. <v Royal Kennedy>Reformers say Kimbrough hasn't cut the bureaucracy, simply rearranged it. <v Royal Kennedy>Meanwhile, the city's local school councils are about to tackle a major duty, their <v Royal Kennedy>school improvement plan, an educational roadmap for the next three years. <v William Ayers>That's where the whole question of vision and where you want to go, how you want to spend <v William Ayers>your resources comes in. And I think that that's that's a critical <v William Ayers>moment in the process that people kind of leap off and take advantage of of this <v William Ayers>time. <v Royal Kennedy>At rCollins High School, as at every other school, the principal drafts the school <v Royal Kennedy>improvement plan with suggestions from his local school council. <v Royal Kennedy>All spring, the Collins' LSC has been struggling to stay together. <v Royal Kennedy>Tyrone Jordan, who has had his problems with Chairperson Gloria Harris, has stopped <v Royal Kennedy>attending meetings and it's rumored he may quit teaching. <v Royal Kennedy>Another member has died, and Gloria Harris's frequent clashes with Principal

<v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond have split the council further. <v Royal Kennedy>That is why what happens in May at Collins becomes all the more astonishing. <v Royal Kennedy>Members finally come together and make some real progress as a school council. <v Royal Kennedy>At a series of special meetings, the Collins LSC examines <v Royal Kennedy>line by line Principal Bond's draft of the school improvement plan, the summer <v Royal Kennedy>school program, the budget and various government programs. <v Willie Bond>Many of our young ladies have medical and social problems related to pregnancy. <v Royal Kennedy>For the first time council members are brimming with ideas not just to improve <v Royal Kennedy>bonds proposals, but to change school policies. <v Royal Kennedy>K. <v Denise Ferguson>Know that Mount Sinai has a Parents to Soon program right on Ivan, so you could actually <v Denise Ferguson>tap into them. And that puts someone onsite here in the school. <v Royal Kennedy>Leading the way is Denise Ferguson, head of the Council's Finance Committee. <v Royal Kennedy>Elected as a community representative at Collins. <v Royal Kennedy>Ferguson also chairs the LSC at her son's grade school. <v Denise Ferguson>And if kids are not going to study then you could bring in speakers

<v Denise Ferguson>or something where this time is not. <v Willie Bond>I agree. I agree. <v Royal Kennedy>The new assertiveness is not Ferguson's alone, but even extends to some of the council's <v Royal Kennedy>quietest members. Parent Katie Wade wants to tighten collins' policy <v Royal Kennedy>for participating in graduation ceremonies. <v Katie Wade>They shoudn't deserve to march if they two credits behind. That goes for my son or anyon else son. I mean other students can work all this time to march <v Willie Bond>That's local policy and if the, that can be changed. <v Royal Kennedy>The group discussions are no longer the acrimonious bickering of past meetings. <v Royal Kennedy>Personality conflicts have been put aside and the Collins Council and Willie Bond <v Royal Kennedy>are now engaged in positive group policymaking. <v Willie Bond>And what they do with me is what they supposed to do. <v Willie Bond>I should have the ability to convince them if my <v Willie Bond>stuff is right. <v Willie Bond>So when I think I'm right, I proceed to try to convict. <v Willie Bond>But sometimes they make good suggestion then I use my skill to find <v Willie Bond>a way to incorporate their suggestion into what we're doing.

<v Royal Kennedy>And tonight, the Collins Council finally unites. <v Royal Kennedy>They approve plans for the coming year that include many of their ideas. <v Royal Kennedy>The vote is unanimous. <v Royal Kennedy>But across town, things seem to have taken a step backwards. <v Sylvia Peters>We're trying to meet a lot of deadlines that have been <v Sylvia Peters>forced upon us for this school improvement process. <v Royal Kennedy>Principal Sylvia Peters informs the LSC that school board deadlines forced <v Royal Kennedy>her to submit a school improvement plan without significant parent input. <v Sylvia Peters>I said this is submitted for your conditional approval <v Sylvia Peters>with a consideration that there will be a schedule of serious meetings <v Sylvia Peters>for serious input. <v Royal Kennedy>And there are other problems. <v Royal Kennedy>The camaraderie of the council evident at the March retreat is showing signs of erosion. <v Royal Kennedy>Veronica Kyle has stopped showing up at meetings, apparently disillusioned <v Royal Kennedy>with the council's leadership and member Reginald Hudson becoming increasingly <v Royal Kennedy>critical of Sylvia Peters.

<v Royal Kennedy>Tonight Hudson is miffed that Peters submitted next year's school budget, even <v Royal Kennedy>though the Central Budget Office had made several mistakes figuring it. <v Royal Kennedy>Councils throughout the city are facing similar budget frustrations because they have <v Royal Kennedy>little power to make changes. <v Reginald Hudson>So are you saying that we had to submit something that was incorrect because there was a <v Reginald Hudson>deadline? <v Sylvia Peters>I think that we would have along with the other 500 some odd schools. <v Reginald Hudson>So I'm more concerned about the 500, I'm talking about this particular school, okay? <v Reginald Hudson>We had to submit something that was incorrect <v Reginald Hudson>and what we supposed to do? Change it as time goes on? <v Reginald Hudson>She's used to being <v Reginald Hudson>the big shot. She may feel a little put off that uh now she <v Reginald Hudson>has to deal with certain personalities. <v Reginald Hudson>And, you know, being that the council hires or fire, <v Reginald Hudson>you know. <v Reginald Hudson>She may feel that a little intimidated by that. <v Sylvia Peters>I wish that at times that people on the council who <v Sylvia Peters>were disgruntled um would also follow

<v Sylvia Peters>through with their responsibilities and obligations. <v Sylvia Peters>But that's neither here nor there. <v Sylvia Peters>I don't intend to be a crybaby about that. <v Sylvia Peters>I just intend to do to keep right on moving. <v Sylvia Peters>[music] <v Royal Kennedy>As the mercury climbs in June, discussions are heated and tempers are short at <v Royal Kennedy>the Collins Local School Council meeting. <v Teacher>The school is in utter chaos. Whether you believe me or not, the school is in utter <v Teacher>chaos. <v Royal Kennedy>A dozen teachers have come tonight to blame Principal Willie Bond for low morale at the <v Royal Kennedy>school and for intimidating those who dared to speak out against his policies. <v Teacher>These people are terrified, folks. <v Teacher>These people are scared for their job. <v Teacher>[laughter and applause] They are scared for their job and they are. <v Teacher>You are scared for your job. I'm going to get a job teaching because if I leave here, <v Teacher>somebody gone see me and say do you wanna teach my kids, I'm going to teach 'em. <v Teacher>And I will teach kids somewhere if not here.

<v Teacher>We all will. We want to teach. <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond chooses not to answer the charges of intimidation, but the council itself <v Royal Kennedy>gets some harsh criticism from the few parents who bother to show up at tonight's <v Royal Kennedy>meeting. <v Parent 4>Its something wrong in a situation where tonight, all you all talked about was <v Parent 4>when you was gon' meet next. <v Parent 4>What concrete thing did you do? <v Parent 4>Nothing. <v Parent 5>This is not funny. This is the only school that I have come to we don't get a <v Parent 5>agenda. We don't get any minutes. We don't get anything. <v Parent 5>It's just like we just come here to sit up and listen to y'all arguing with and among <v Parent 5>y'allself. We have no idea what's going on. <v Royal Kennedy>What's going on is that the cooperation between council members and Willie Bond, <v Royal Kennedy>which had recently looked so promising, has again regressed into the suspicion and <v Royal Kennedy>divisiveness of prior meetings. <v Royal Kennedy>And one teacher finds a sad similarity between the Collins LSC and the school's <v Royal Kennedy>disillusioned staff. <v Teacher 2>They fuss, argue, fight and divided out here. <v Teacher 2>And I've come to every meeting and I watch you guys up there fuss, fight, argue and

<v Teacher 2>are very divided. <v Teacher 2>If you want this group out here to get together, that group up <v Teacher 2>there must get together. And you know you are together. <v Council Member 2>Well, then quit callin' our houses, okay? <v Council Member 2>See it's a lot of things that you don't know to be going on. <v Council Member 2>It's enough to give you a heart attack, okay? <v Council Member 2>Okay and let me tell you something else. <v Council Member 2>It's hard, honey. It's hard working on a on a local school council. <v Council Member 2>It's not an easy job. And then when people are calling you on the phone and trying to get <v Council Member 2>you to go to this side, to that side, and you have to listen to that. <v Council Member 2>I mean, if you're going to be polite, I mean, it's a serious situation. <v Royal Kennedy> Finally, Lerner Brewer, a teacher and the council secretary gets her chance to speak. <v Royal Kennedy>Though Bond must take responsibility for some of Collin's problems, she says others <v Royal Kennedy>must also. <v Lerner Brewer>I believe there's enough blame to go around. <v Lerner Brewer>And know morale is low. <v Lerner Brewer>I know it's low. And think Mr. Bond should address that.

<v Lerner Brewer>Remember when we used to come in the morning and stay all day? <v Lerner Brewer>It's a shame that on any given day we got twelve, thirteen, <v Lerner Brewer>fourteen, fifteen staff members out. <v Lerner Brewer>Now tell me that tell me education's going on. <v Lerner Brewer>What happens to these kids? <v Lerner Brewer>These finals we gave, what a farce, and you know it? <v Lerner Brewer>You know, we just graduated a bunch of kids that you wouldn't hire. <v Lerner Brewer>Now let's get real. <v Royal Kennedy>And so the first year of reform at Collins High School ends much as it began <v Royal Kennedy>the education of children overshadowed by the battles of adults. <v Willie Bond>First year I expected what took place. <v Willie Bond>I was not surprised. It's new to everyone. <v Willie Bond>And anytime there's something new and it's political then people want <v Willie Bond>to have some influence on what's going to happen. <v Willie Bond>So that's, I enjoy it.

<v Gloria Harris>I can't say it is all his fault, but I blame him because he's the head <v Gloria Harris>administrator and it's not what happens next year, I blame <v Gloria Harris>him for this year. <v Denise Ferguson>We've gotten involved in these fights and it seems like there's no way out of it. <v Denise Ferguson>And I don't know anything that's been gained from the fighting. <v Denise Ferguson>I don't know one thing that has been achieved. <v Sylvia Peters>So I accept this award. <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas, June has brought a crowning achievement for Sylvia Peters. <v Royal Kennedy>She wins a Whitman award, a $5000 prize given to 20 Chicago <v Royal Kennedy>principals who have made a major difference in their schools. <v Royal Kennedy>With the other winners, Peters is invited to discuss education with President Bush during <v Royal Kennedy>his visit to Chicago. <v Royal Kennedy>But back at Dumas, there is trouble. <v Royal Kennedy>Some students and parents are picketing the school furious because Peters abruptly <v Royal Kennedy>canceled the Dumas graduation luncheon after fighting broke out among eighth graders. <v Royal Kennedy>When the local school council meets that night, it faces the largest turnout of the year.

<v Royal Kennedy>Peters tells the parents that children must learn the consequences of bad behavior. <v Royal Kennedy>And that's why she's canceled the luncheon. <v Sylvia Peters>Because are we going to allow the children to grow like wild vines doing <v Sylvia Peters>whatever or are we going to say we need to have some standards? <v Royal Kennedy>But the ongoing behavior problems have had a more disturbing consequence. <v Royal Kennedy>Peters announces that an award winning science teacher, William Mitchell, is resigning. <v Royal Kennedy>Mitchell says student disrespect for him has now escalated into racial taunts. <v William Mitchell>But I can no longer stay with racism. <v William Mitchell>And I will say it. I feel racism here at Dumas. <v William Mitchell>I have seen the children harassed <v William Mitchell>and harangued teachers on the third floor for no apparent reason <v William Mitchell>except that they are white. <v William Mitchell>It is being taught by your faculty. <v William Mitchell>It is here. It is in your parents also you not necessarily, <v William Mitchell>but in the parents.

<v Royal Kennedy>Mitchell's resignation leaves the parents stunned. <v Speaker>Mr. Mitchell, I implore you, okay. <v Speaker>This school is moving. And if you leave, it's going to hurt us alot, okay. <v Speaker>We need you. <v Speaker>I fight racism because I don't like it perpetrated against me and if <v Speaker>I don't like it, if it's unfair when it's being perpetrated against me. <v Speaker>It is unfair when it's being perpetrated against you. <v Speaker>And that is not the way of the world. <v Speaker>That is not the way of the world. It is not okay to for children to disrespect you or <v Speaker>anybody else. It is no okay. <v Speaker>I'm not ready to say that this is a racist issue because I am black. <v Speaker>These students need to understand that there are some things they must come to school <v Speaker>with. And these are not necessarily things that we as teachers can give them. <v Speaker>We can make an effort, but we have to have something when they come here. <v Speaker>In terms of values. <v Royal Kennedy>But one mother questions the attack on parents. <v Parent 6>If the children's behavior was so appalling, I expect

<v Parent 6>a note home or something. <v Parent 6>The parent needs to know, the parent needs to know that their child conduct is <v Parent 6>unacceptable. <v Speaker>But it is a parent's responsibility to get up to that school and find out. <v Speaker>We have had a meeting every month since October and we <v Speaker>have not had such a turnout. <v Speaker>But I'm glad you're here because you need to know that you're welcome and you need <v Speaker>to come back here. If this needs to be a better place you need to make sure this is going <v Speaker>on. <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas, the furor over the luncheon cancelation is a blessing in disguise, for it <v Royal Kennedy>represents what the council and Chicago school reform is all about. <v Royal Kennedy>Parents becoming directly involved in school policies and in their children's education. <v Royal Kennedy>This is the foundation upon which Dumas and other councils must build <v Royal Kennedy>if reform is to save Chicago's public schools down the road. <v Sylvia Peters>These parents are not going let the schools slide down the tube. If everything

<v Sylvia Peters>went along well, you would begin to question what is their real life <v Sylvia Peters>in this school? And th-that that that situation, let me know that there is real, <v Sylvia Peters>genuine, serious life in the school. <v Timothy Thompson>It's almost like a seed trying to break through the soil. <v Timothy Thompson>It takes a minute to deal with the struggle, but we're moving rapidly toward the <v Timothy Thompson>sunlight. <v Peggie Bartlett>To be able to govern ourselves, to be able to manage our building, to to fit <v Peggie Bartlett>a make a program that's tailored for purely for us. <v Peggie Bartlett>Nothing wears like a tailor made suit, something that's made just for <v Peggie Bartlett>you, just for your community, just for your students. <v Royal Kennedy>But can't communities like Woodlawn and Lawndale take advantage of the power that <v Royal Kennedy>school reform provides? <v Royal Kennedy>Many say no. That Pershing Road and government regulations still make it difficult <v Royal Kennedy>to make bold changes. <v Royal Kennedy>Others say the councils will give birth to a new leadership whose power will be felt <v Royal Kennedy>not only in the schools but in Chicago political circles as well.

<v Royal Kennedy>Who is right won't be known for years as the law is studied, fine tuned <v Royal Kennedy>and studied again. But one thing is certain Chicago school reform <v Royal Kennedy>is a revolution that the whole world is watching. <v Royal Kennedy>[graduation processional music] <v Ted Kimbrough>I think the getting in to the actual education of students <v Ted Kimbrough>is going to be the big awakening. <v Ted Kimbrough>We've been talking about governance now and dealing with governors for the past year. <v Ted Kimbrough>Now, how do you go about making education better for children? <v Ted Kimbrough>That's going to be the big question in the second year. <v George Munoz>You're going to get a lot of conflict. You're going to get some local school councils <v George Munoz>that are going to feel quite irritated and frustrated that they were <v George Munoz>sold a bill of goods, that they were told that they have a lot of power and say, over <v George Munoz>that lost over that school. <v George Munoz>They find out that the budget is pretty much fixed, that they really can't do much about <v George Munoz>non-performing people and that their students aren't doing any better.

<v George Munoz>And that frustration is going to blow up. <v William Ayers>There's never been a time in Chicago in memory when teachers could come together <v William Ayers>and say, we reject this curriculum. <v William Ayers>This idiotic timetable that we've been given, we have a different idea. <v William Ayers>We reject standardized testing in the first grade. <v William Ayers>We reject it. Teachers can now say that, they'll be taken seriously, <v William Ayers>and so they ought to start saying it. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Democracy is cumbersome, is slow, it <v Joan Jeter Slay>doesn't pay attention to deadlines, it kind of fumbles along <v Joan Jeter Slay>but oh, it works. And this is gonna work too. <v Joan Jeter Slay>[graduation processional music continues] [music] [Song: What's Going On? Performed by Marvin Gaye]