School Reform: All Power to the Parents?

<v Announcer>Production funds for this program were provided in part by the Lloyd A. <v Announcer>Frye Foundation. <v Woman>If this council doesn't work for the school, you will not have a school. <v Man>All the duties and <v Man>responsibilities of the local school councils. <v Man>They are as intelligent as you are. <v Woman>If we fight among one another, how can we help these children? <v Man>We wanna teach 'em. We can't teach 'em.We have these deals we want <v Man>to teach. <v Woman>What is this council really gonna be designed for, what is your purpose. <v Man>The only thing that's worthwhile saving is the children. Let everything else go to hell. <v Announcer>Tonight on WTTW Journal, a trip through Chicago school reform's first <v Announcer>year: all power to the parents. <v Royal Kennedy>Good evening. I'm Royal Kennedy. <v Royal Kennedy>In the fall of 1989, six thousand 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 who, with their principal, were given unprecedented power <v Royal Kennedy>to reform their children's failing school system. <v Royal Kennedy>Tonight, we follow two of these councils through their first year. <v Royal Kennedy>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. Mostly, this is a story of pure grassroots democracy, <v Royal Kennedy>how parents average people's 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 and if school <v Royal Kennedy>reform is to work, it must work here. <v Sylvia Peters>I've been the principal of the school since January 9th... <v Royal Kennedy>October 18th, 1989. <v Royal Kennedy>The first meeting of the Alexander Dumas Elementary Local School Council. <v Sylvia Peters>The 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 and 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>This is my home. <v Royal Kennedy>Peggy Bartlett is a mother of two 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 70sm 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 Dumas 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 Speaker>But Sylvia Peters' efforts to involve other parents soon backfires. <v Councilmember>And not to sound like I'm you know, I want to be a troublemaker, but I'm genuinely <v Councilmember>concerned about what goes on in my town. And I feel that I should be able to do this. <v Councilmember>So, you know, when I ask you that question, what is this council really going to be <v Councilmember>designed for? What is your purpose? <v Councilmember>Any parent sitting out here who has a concern about their child <v Councilmember>and want to make sure that this council hears your concern, that you

<v Councilmember>rise up and serve on the committee. <v Councilmember>Be involved, working. Right now, I'm not exactly employed. <v Councilmember>Right now, so I have time to come to these meetings. <v Councilmember>But during an average day when I'm working I don't have no time to come down and <v Councilmember>any meetings and all your so-called whatever fundraisers might come up. <v Councilmember>This is not a petty situation. <v Royal Kennedy>But others in the audience say parents must support the council. <v Councilmember>If this council doesn't work with the school you will not have the school. <v Councilmember>You will not have any black school, any minority school. <v Councilmember>You'll only have what other people want you you have. <v Councilmember>So don't just start here tonight and start this petty stuff. You <v Councilmember>got a chip on your shoulder, get it off. <v Royal Kennedy>Sylvia Peters is disgusted that <v Royal Kennedy>the meeting has gotten out of hand. <v Royal Kennedy>Though Peggy Bartlett 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 are sitting here arguing about nonsense.

<v Sylvia Peters>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>We don't permit the children to carry on this way. <v Councilmember>The reason I got on this council is for one reason only. <v Councilmember>It's about a brother 20 years ago <v Councilmember>named Marvin Gaye. Say, what's going on <v Councilmember>that our children, what a shame. <v Councilmember>What a way to live. <v Councilmember>If we do not save our children, there will be no tomorrow for us. <v Councilmember>This is why we in this position right now. <v Councilmember>This system has taken us up in the air like a eagle and taken <v Councilmember>us off the nest, which we have been sitting in for the last 400 years. <v Councilmember>He said, you fly, or you die. So I'm saying only

<v Councilmember>thing that's worthwhile saving is the children. <v Councilmember>Let everything else go to hell. <v Speaker>[Council applauds] <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... <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond has been principal at Collins since 1985 and has taught <v Royal Kennedy>and worked in Lawndale schools for 30 years. <v Willie Bond>Is money 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 Royal Kennedy>Yes, I'd like to nominate Mrs Gloria Harris as our chairperson. <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>Congratulations, Gloria. <v Royal Kennedy>Gloria Harris has a daughter at Collins and another who recently graduated.

<v Royal Kennedy>And she's been active at the school for years, as have many others on the Collins <v Royal Kennedy>council. As chairperson, Harris will face some tough challenges, <v Royal Kennedy>including poor morale among Colins 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 <v Coretta McFarren>just coalesce around any particular problem in the 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 Speaker>The move is how to win a second Leibniz's fragrance and that the meat stand adjourned <v Speaker>and saw 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 first hands we can do now know really get involved like, say, <v Clementine Hardaway>hiring, firing, principals and that sort of thing. I don't know if we gonna get involved <v Clementine Hardaway>in that but we'll actually be able to do some real hands-on kind of things for the <v Clementine Hardaway>school. And I think it's important, all of us, not just the parents today here. <v Clementine Hardaway>Everybody excited. <v Gloria Harris>Yes. I think reform may work. <v Gloria Harris>It may not. 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, but I think even if it doesn't work, <v Gloria Harris>it should put something on the minds of the parents. <v Gloria Harris>So it makes me want to come out and work. <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, the Chicago Catholic schools in 1987 had just one administrator <v Royal Kennedy>for every six thousand 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's 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 don't know one worse. <v Royal Kennedy>It was time for a radical change. <v Royal Kennedy>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. <v Royal Kennedy>These LSCs would be dominated by parents newly empowered to make decisions <v Royal Kennedy>at the local school level. <v Speaker>What's going on in Chicago is absolutely unique. <v Speaker>It's the most far reaching and fundamental change that's ever been envisioned in a big <v Speaker>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 by education. <v Royal Kennedy>Professor Dan Lewis says school reformers were out to break the back of the bloated

<v Royal Kennedy>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 today. <v Royal Kennedy>The success of this new system depends largely on the interim Chicago school board, <v Royal Kennedy>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 <v Royal Kennedy>Pershing Road staff. <v Board Member>Are you using every person here who has these skills? <v Bureacrat>Every person I can find, yes. <v Royal Kennedy>Nearly three weeks after the local school council elections staff has yet to <v Royal Kennedy>complete a printed guide to help the 540 LSCs 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. <v Royal Kennedy>Without the guide, the council's momentum has ground to a halt. <v Joseph Reed>We went from just feeling that some of the key players

<v Joseph Reed>in the administration were inept to the <v Joseph Reed>fact that we thought some of them were literally sabotaging <v Joseph Reed>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 <v George Munoz>out of 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 Colins 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 Earle>Position number 64 -

<v Willie Bond>Is close. <v Penny Earle>Oh fifty one. And I have a right to know why it was close. <v Royal Kennedy>Penny Earle, 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 Earle 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 Earle's cause. <v Speaker>Does Collins High School at this point - wait - does Collins High School at this point <v Speaker>need 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 Speaker>I'd like to call this order to meeting this meeting <v Speaker>to order. Would like some order for my meeting, okay? <v Speaker>[Laughs] <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas in Novembe, the council gets a good turnout <v Royal Kennedy>for its meeting, which is scheduled the same day parents pick up their children's report <v Royal Kennedy>cards. As with Collins and many other councils, the Dumas chairperson

<v Royal Kennedy>Peggy Bartlett is struggling with parliamentary procedure. <v Peggy Bartlett>Call for the question. <v Peggy Bartlett>All those in favor of moving on to new business <v Peggy Bartlett>say aye. <v Speaker>[Chorus says "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. Its brother, Tim, as he is known, makes a stunning proposal <v Royal Kennedy>that the council adopt a 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. <v Timothy Thompson>They have no resistance from the negativity that that <v Timothy Thompson>this society puts on them, because we have not <v Timothy Thompson>taken the time to give them a sense of identity <v Timothy Thompson>with their maker. <v Royal Kennedy>Father Tim reads the affirmatio he wants spoken in school each morning <v Royal Kennedy>just before the 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, Elohim. 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. <v Timothy Thompson>Every desire is glorified and brought into perfect manifestation. <v Timothy Thompson>We give thanks for perfect life. <v Timothy Thompson>Expressing within every cell, atom, muscle. <v Speaker>[Overlapping chatter] do you believe that these eleven people here, including this <v Speaker>principal, is almost as intelligent as you mister? <v Speaker>Don't insult me. <v Speaker>You are insulting me. <v Speaker>We are just as intelligent as you are. <v Speaker>You keep trying to tell these people how they are supposed to act, that you got all the <v Speaker>sense. They are as intelligent as you are. <v Speaker>All I'm doing -

<v Speaker>[?inaudible?] <v Speaker>Stop Lori now. Make them stop now. Yeah. <v Timothy Thompson>I thank you, Father God, Mother, for your love, peace, joy, <v Timothy Thompson>courage, power, truth, patience, faith. <v Timothy Thompson>And for the opportunity to serve the Father God Mother <v Timothy Thompson>lovingly and cheerfully. <v Speaker>At Dumas, some parents support the concept of Brother Tim's affirmation, though most <v Speaker>council members are tentative. <v Woman>We are serving in an institution that is reminding us constantly on the issue of <v Woman>separation of church and state. <v Timothy Thompson>No such thing. <v Woman>And I don't want to debate Brother Tim -. <v Speaker>Brother Tim will persist all year on the affirmation, but the council will essentially <v Speaker>leave it tabled.And at Collins, the council stays out of the Pinny <v Speaker>Earl affair, but they are driven from their meeting. <v Woman>I have to move to adjourn. <v Speaker>[Overlapping chatter]. <v Woman>Since <v Woman>the meeting adjourned you -

<v Man>I'm talking to his parents. <v Woman>We haven't discussed. <v Man>You have demonstrated that I made a great decision. <v Royal Kennedy>If public education has failed in Chicago, it's neighborhoods like Woodlawn, <v Royal Kennedy>where Dumas Elementary is located and 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' 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. [Bell rings] Schoolchildren here can learn Spanish and Latin. <v Royal Kennedy>Suzuki violin and cello are taught side by side with social studies and spelling, <v Royal Kennedy>and while reading scores are generally low, the second and eighth grades are now reading <v Royal Kennedy>at their grade levels. A real accomplishment for an inner city school. <v Royal Kennedy>Many people believe its principal Sylvia Peters who's made the difference.

<v Royal Kennedy>And with her experience in the Chicago school system, Peters has an innate advantage that <v Royal Kennedy>allows her to lead the Dumas Local School Council in these early months. <v Royal Kennedy>As a result, she can shape its direction. <v Speaker>[Chorus of children singing]. <v Royal Kennedy>On this particular day, the children of Dumas are entertaining several dozen Chicago <v Royal Kennedy>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

<v Royal Kennedy>on 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 and if you show <v Sylvia Peters>that you seriously care about these children, you can't <v Sylvia Peters>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. <v Sylvia Peters>And if you feel it's going to fail, 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 going to get. <v Sylvia Peters>You're going to 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. <v Royal Kennedy>But across town in the community of Lawndale, Collins' principal Willie Bond is also <v Royal Kennedy>the 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>The intent may not have anything to do with, in its present form, with <v Willie Bond>improvement of education. I think that was some of the intent here. <v Royal Kennedy>What's the intent? <v Speaker>Well, my gut feeling is there were too many black people in too many places at <v Speaker>the Board of Education. <v Speaker>Too many contracts going in the wrong direction and they need to adjust. <v Speaker>The other thing, the reason that I view it with suspicion. <v Speaker>The traditional black groups that <v Speaker>have been involved in everything that have happened in Chicago were <v Speaker>not involved in this process. <v Speaker>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's not living in Lawndale because they 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 parent, <v Willie Bond>the possibility of good things happening is <v Willie Bond>there. <v Willie Bond>The question will be, 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 councils efforts to gain the power the new school reform law was <v Royal Kennedy>supposed to give them. <v Ted Kimbrough>You know, coming to Chicago is a homecoming for me. <v Royal Kennedy>Enter Ted Kimbro, a brand new superintendent of Chicago schools. <v Royal Kennedy>He has been brought here for more than one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars a <v Royal Kennedy>year from Compton, California, where he ran a school system less than one <v Royal Kennedy>18th the size of Chicago's. Hopes are high that Kimbro can cut inefficiency <v Royal Kennedy>and nurture reform along. <v Board Member>So that is a matter of some urgency to have it done. <v Royal Kennedy>On this January day, Kimbro is here at school board 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 Royal Kennedy>Right now, there is a great deal of confusion that exists. <v Sylvia Peters>We are told that - <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, 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. <v Sylvia Peters>And we 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 Kimbro and his constituents, but on the front <v Royal Kennedy>lines, some councils are preparing for battle. <v Gloria Harris>Hello, how are you doing? You ready to come to the meeting tonight? <v Royal Kennedy>This Friday afternoon, Chairperson Gloria Harris sits with her two daughters as she <v Royal Kennedy>prepares for a special meeting of the Colins Local School Council. <v Royal Kennedy>Harris wants to discuss what she calls Mr. Bond's tactics, namely Principal

<v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond's hiring of council 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, it's doing a lot of things to us and we feel, <v Gloria Harris>I think it's all Mr. Bond's doing. <v Councilmember>Miss Brew, 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 roll call appear on tonight's typed agenda prepared <v Royal Kennedy>by teacher and council member Tyrone Jordan. <v Gloria Harris>It's up to me to put out an agenda.

<v Gloria Harris>I want to put out as I write it and ascertain this agenda - I <v Gloria Harris>did not call. <v Tyrone Jordan>Maybe I'm responsible for that. <v Tyrone Jordan>I just followed the previous one. I didn't mean any harm. <v Gloria Harris>The previous ones don't have roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>In the book that we follow - I just said, roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>If you want to - I'd never put it in again. <v Tyrone Jordan>I'm sorry. <v Royal Kennedy>Harris thinks that Jordan went behind her back to Bond <v Royal Kennedy>with the controversial agenda. <v Royal Kennedy>Mr. Bonds is not the chairperson. <v Royal Kennedy>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, try 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>Isn't it based off - Just roll call. <v Tyrone Jordan>Right. I mean, that's kind of small. Don't you think? <v Tyrone Jordan>Roll call? <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. <v Tyrone Jordan>You come to me earlier and say you were the only one trying to help me. Now you're gonna <v Tyrone Jordan>attack me and all that. <v Gloria Harris>That's true. <v Tyrone Jordan>Is that's true? You say it then. Now you want to public to attack me because I haven't

<v Tyrone Jordan>done it. <v Gloria Harris>I am publicly attacking you because you took the agenda to Mr. <v Gloria Harris>Bond. <v Royal Kennedy>Though several members trying 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: the showdown over Mr. Bond's <v Royal Kennedy>tactics. <v Gloria Harris>The meeting was called because Mr. Bonds <v Gloria Harris>has on one occasion, he closed the position on a second occasion, he <v Gloria Harris>opened one without informing the council. <v Royal Kennedy>The law doesn't require a principle 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 earle's position in the library are not the fundamental <v Royal Kennedy>issues here. This meeting is about mistrust and mistrust <v Royal Kennedy>among council members, 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>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 through hiring, <v Gloria Harris>firing or whatever. <v Royal Kennedy>But parent Shirley Deer, 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 Deer>It is a position that was open, and if any of us wanted it, we could <v Shirley Deer>have gotten it. <v Royal Kennedy>And this is not just a difference of opinion, but a family matter. <v Royal Kennedy>Clementine Hadaway is Deers' own sister. <v Shirley Deer>I am sick and tired of this myth that's going all up here. <v Shirley Deer>How can we put signs up, verse in this principal here, and the children are seeing it <v Shirley Deer>and they goin' around talking about it. If we fightin' among one another, how could we <v Shirley Deer>help these children? If we upset, the teachers upse,t and the children are upset

<v Shirley Deer>so that, you know what we don't get? Zip. <v Shirley Deer>We can not -. <v Speaker>Thank you Ms. Deer. <v Shirley Deer>No I'm not finished. That's right, this is a true fact. Wait a minute, I'm not through, I'm not through. <v Shirley Deer>Y'all asked me if I had anything to say so let me get through. <v Shirley Deer>Let me get through - everybody gonna talk, make a fuss. <v Shirley Deer>But let me talk. <v Shirley Deer>Let me talk. Well, well, you can say that, that's your problem. <v Shirley Deer>Truthfully, Ms. Harris and I have been friends, and I want it to stay like that, <v Shirley Deer>but no one never called me and told me about this meeting. <v Shirley Deer>So I know that everybody here got together and talk 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>With yearly information you want, you may have it, but you have <v Willie Bond>provided me only one opportunity to give you information, and that's at the monthly <v Willie Bond>meeting, which means most of the thing that transpired from day to day. <v Willie Bond>How do I 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 Tyronne Jordan <v Royal Kennedy>advises the council to get its act together. <v Tyrone Jordan>The 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 at school. <v Tyrone Jordan>You know, I think it's a willing for power. <v Tyrone Jordan>I think people were kind of tripping. And there are some things that if we don't sit down <v Tyrone Jordan>and really start respecting one another and appreciating each <v Tyrone Jordan>other a little bit better, we're going to have some serious problems. <v Tyrone Jordan>We have 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.

<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. <v Speaker>[Students 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 at 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. Burns students are almost all Hispanic from low income <v Royal Kennedy>families. Here, as in other Hispanic neighborhoods, the sense of grassroots <v Royal Kennedy>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, theirs individually and Hispanics as a whole, <v Daniel Solis>to participate in this because it means power and means money and means resources. <v Daniel Solis>It means influence. <v Royal Kennedy>And a potential for conflict in the shaky marriages of councils <v Royal Kennedy>and principals from different ethnic backgrounds. <v Speaker>If the whole push for reform was a dissatisfaction of how things <v Speaker>have occurred, the likelihood is that you're going to want to have councils change <v Speaker>principals. Otherwise, if you had all councils agree with the principals that they had in <v Speaker>there, you're basically going to say, why do 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 Vélez 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 Mister Kriz, told to this council when we took place in that school <v William Velez>where that he was the only one state policies in that school, <v William Velez>make policies, and not the council. <v Donald Kriz>Their interpretation of the word cooperation was that I turn over the complete control of <v Donald Kriz>this school to them. That is not my definition of cooperation. <v Donald Kriz>Now should their definition prevail. Then I will admit that I am noncooperative. <v Royal Kennedy>George Munoz says that this is typical of the stalemates that many new councils and old

<v Royal Kennedy>line principals have faced all year. <v George Munoz>They didn't mix well. There was a feeling that of non communication, and therefore <v George Munoz>those councils responded accordingly. <v Royal Kennedy>In late February, the Burns Council tells Krizthat he will not be automatically <v Royal Kennedy>rehired if he wants to be principal, he'll have to apply along with other candidates. <v Royal Kennedy>The move angers Crist's supporters. <v Rosemary Romero>They call, they hang up. They're threatening my family and myself. <v Rosemary Romero>If you don't change your votes, you're going to be sorry. <v Rosemary Romero>Your family's going to be sorry. <v Royal Kennedy>Violence never materializes, 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. <v Royal Kennedy>And now unpopular. <v Donald Kriz>Says one of our -. <v Royal Kennedy>It is now April eight, 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.

<v Donald Kriz>OK. I'm glad to see you all back. <v Donald Kriz>Hi. Thanks so much. <v Royal Kennedy>Kriz suspects the real reason for the council's conflict with him is because he is not <v Royal Kennedy>Hispanic and does not speak Spanish. <v Donald Kriz>It became very apparent what the initial meetings that 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 Danny Solis>I really don't care who these councils pick pick as long as they pick the best possible <v Danny Solis>individual to be their principal of that school. <v Royal Kennedy>And eventually, a city wide 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>the council must follow to judge its principals' performance. <v Royal Kennedy>Under the School Reform Act, principals lost their tenure, <v Royal Kennedy>but are now suing to get it back. <v Royal Kennedy>Bruce Berendt of the Chicago Principals Association suggests that an <v Royal Kennedy>LSC support of a principal may depend more on politics 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 bases 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 LSCs 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 Lenz>I think there are many councils that were looking to their principal for leadership and <v Linda Lenz>guidance, and they didn't want to get rid of that individual because they needed him or <v Linda Lenz>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 with the rest was satisfied with the response they got from -. <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 <v Royal Kennedy>scrutiny from a council that will ultimately have the last word on his job. <v Royal Kennedy> <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 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>voted 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 opportunity. <v Royal Kennedy> The retreat is led by Joan Jeter Slay, a member of the interim <v Royal Kennedy>school board and the leader of Designs for Change, a school advocacy group <v Royal Kennedy>that's pushed long and hard for school reform. <v Joan Jeter Slay>They say well you raise 'em. Many of these parents can't [?inaudible?] 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 and responsibilities under

<v Royal Kennedy>school reform and about laws and regulations that apply to schools. <v Royal Kennedy>This is the kind of guidance that all school councils have needed from day one. <v Councilmember>Below are listed 15 items left intact and undamaged after <v Councilmember>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 Councilmember>So if we have water, we have an opportunity to reach our objective <v Councilmember>through reasoning, see if we lose our water we sort of <v Councilmember>short circuit ourselves. <v Royal Kennedy>This is not easy. It takes the group more than an hour to compromise on a final <v Royal Kennedy>list. <v Councilmember>Now we're down to twelve and eleven. <v Councilmember>So which one? The milk or the gun? <v Councilmember>Eleven. Eleven for the eleven.

<v Councilmember>Alright. Eleven for the gun. <v Councilmember>You can tell we live in the city [Audience 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 find some fault with the way it handled that. <v Joan Jeter Slay>You started out declaring consensus. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And that's just what happens in meetings. People say, say, yeah, <v Joan Jeter Slay>yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. These are the articulate people and they say that's right. <v Joan Jeter Slay>The chairperson person says, OK, moving right along. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And this lady right there didn't open her mouth. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And we just go marching along. <v Joan Jeter Slay>See we have a tendency to say, OK, majority <v Joan Jeter Slay>rule. And as a minority person, that <v Joan Jeter Slay>bothers me. Hey, wait a minute. Somebody's speaking over here. <v Joan Jeter Slay>I think that people have to become conscious of that.

<v Councilmember>I heard a lot of we's at the end of this that I didn't hear the beginning, including with <v Councilmember>myself, because I said, how am I going to survive? <v Speaker>And if local school councils are to survive, Slay says, they must listen and learn <v Speaker>from every member. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Your mama's probably told you as my mama did, two heads are better than one. It's the truth. <v Joan Jeter Slay>Cooperation, collaboration is essential. What <v Joan Jeter Slay>we would like to do is break up instead of going into new business. <v Joan Jeter Slay>We'd like to break up in committees now and see can <v Joan Jeter Slay>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 councilmembers break into committees to talk about specific school projects. <v Royal Kennedy>There is a fund raising committee. <v Man>People buy those. <v Woman>They cost us a quarter, we sell them for 50 cents. <v Royal Kennedy>One for parental recruitment. <v Man>Uh, textbook selection.

<v Royal Kennedy>And one for the affirmation. <v Timothy Thompson>We we're not affirming a prayer. <v Timothy Thompson>We're just affirming praises and thanksgiving to a positive and unification <v Timothy Thompson>of the family, that's all. <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>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 Montague Goodo, 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 rejects most <v Royal Kennedy>nominees for the new Chicago school board, which are scheduled to be in place by May <v Royal Kennedy>15th. <v Mayor Daley>I am announcing today... <v Royal Kennedy>And finally, Superintendent Ted Kimbro announces he'll move hundreds of school <v Royal Kennedy>administrators to new district service centers around the city.

<v Royal Kennedy>Reformers say Kimbro 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. <v Royal Kennedy>Their 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 Collins High schools, 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>Tyronne 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' frequent clashes with Principal <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bon have split the council further, he warned. <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 line-by-line <v Royal Kennedy>principal Bond's draft of the school improvement plan, the summer school program, the <v Royal Kennedy>budget and various government programs. <v Willie Bond>Many of our young ladies have medical and social problem related to pregnancy. <v Royal Kennedy>For the first time, council members are brimming with ideas not just to improve <v Royal Kennedy>Bond's proposals but to change school policies. <v Denise Ferguson>I know that my Sinai has a parents program right on Ogden, so you could actually tap into <v Denise Ferguson>them in essence with someone on site here in the schools. <v Royal Kennedy>Leading the way is Denise Fergusson, head of the Council's Finance Committee. <v Royal Kennedy>Elected as a community representative at Collins, Ferguson also chairs the LSC <v Royal Kennedy>at her son's grade school. <v Denise Ferguson>And if kids are not gonna study, then you could bring in speakers <v Denise Ferguson>or something. <v Willie Bond>I agree. But that wouldn't be - 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>quietist members. Parent Katie Wade wants to tighten Collins policy <v Royal Kennedy>for participating in graduation ceremonies. <v Katie Wade>They shouldn't deserve to march if they're two credits behind, that goes for my son and anyone else's son. <v Willie Bond>That's. <v Katie Wade>I mean the other students work all this hard to march. <v Willie Bond>That's local policy and 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>What they do with me is what they're 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 convince. <v Willie Bond>But sometimes they make good suggestions, 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 column's council, finally unites, they approve plans for the coming

<v Royal Kennedy>year that include many of their ideas. 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 the 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 is becoming increasingly <v Royal Kennedy>critical of Sylvia Peteris. Tonight Hudson is miffed that Peters submitted <v Royal Kennedy>next year's school budget, even though the Central Budget Office had made several

<v Royal Kennedy>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>Why am I concerned about the five hundred schools? I'm talking about this particular <v Reginald Hudson>school, okay? we had to submit something that was incorrect <v Reginald Hudson>and what we suppsed to do, change itaAs time goes on? <v Reginald Hudson>She's used to being the big shot. <v Reginald Hudson>She may feel a little put off that now she has to deal with certain personalities. <v Reginald Hudson>And, you know, being that the council hires or fires, <v Reginald Hudson>you know, she may feel that a little <v Reginald Hudson>intimidated by that. <v Sylvia Peters>I wish that at times that people on the consult <v Sylvia Peters>who were disgruntled would also have followed <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 tend to be a crybaby about that, I just did tend to try to <v Sylvia Peters>keep right on moving. <v Royal Kennedy>As the mercury climbs in June, discussions are heated and tempers are short at <v Royal Kennedy>the Colins 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>They are scared for their job. And they are. <v Teacher>They are scared for their job. <v Speaker>[Audience laughs] <v Teacher>I'm going to get a job teaching because if I leave here, somebody's gonna see me <v Teacher>and say do you wanna teach my kids? I'm gonna teach 'em. And I will teach kids somewhere, if not here. <v Teacher>We all will. We wanna teach.

<v Teacher>We can't teach. <v Royal Kennedy>Willie Bond chooses not to answer the charges of intimidation. <v Royal Kennedy>But the council itself gets some harsh criticism from the few parents who bother to show <v Royal Kennedy>up at tonight's meeting. <v Teacher>All I'm sayin' is something wrong in a situation where tonight all you all talked about <v Teacher>was when you was gonna meet next? What concrete thing did you do? <v Teacher>Nothing. This is not funny. <v Teacher>This is the only school that I have come to. <v Teacher>We don't get agenda, we don't get any minutes. <v Teacher>We don't get anything. It's just like we just come here to sit up and listen to yall <v Teacher>argue and whisper among yourself. <v Teacher>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 under 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 schools <v Royal Kennedy>disillusioned staff. <v Teacher>They first argue, fight and divide out here. <v Teacher>And I've come to every meeting and I watch you guys out there first fight and are <v Teacher>very divided. If you want this group out here

<v Teacher>to get together, that group up there must get together. <v Teacher>And you know you are. <v Speaker>[Audience applauds] <v Councilmember>Well, now, look, it's a lot of things that you don't know that be going on It's enough to <v Councilmember>give you a heart attack, okay. <v Councilmember>Let me tell you something else. It's hard. <v Councilmember>It is hard working on it on a local school council. <v Councilmember>It's not an easy job. And then when people are calling you on the phone and trying to get <v Councilmember>you to go to this side, to that sde, and you have to listen to them. <v Councilmember>I mean, if you're going to be polite, I mean, it's a serious situation. <v Royal Kennedy>Finally Lerna Brewer, a teacher, and the council's 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 Lerna Brewer>I believe there's enough blame to go around. <v Lerna Brewer>I know morale is low. <v Lerna Brewer>I know it's low. <v Lerna Brewer>And I think Mr. Bond should address that. <v Lerna Brewer>Remember when we used to come in the morning and stay all day?

<v Lerna Brewer>It's a shame that on any given day we get twelve, thirteen, <v Lerna Brewer>fourteen, fifteen staff members out. <v Lerna Brewer>Now tell me that, tell me education's going on. <v Lerna Brewer>What happens to these kids? <v Lerna Brewer>These finals we gave were a farce and, you know it, you know, we just <v Lerna Brewer>graduated a bunch of kids that you wouldn't [?inaudble?] Now <v Lerna Brewer>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>Frankly 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 that 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? <v Gloria Harris>I blame 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 five thousand dollar prize given to 20 Chicago <v Royal Kennedy>principals who've made a major difference in their schools. <v Royal Kennedy>With the other winners, peters is invited to discuss education with President <v Royal Kennedy>Bush during his visit to Chicago. <v Royal Kennedy>But back at Dumas, there's 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? <v Sylvia Peters>Doing whatever? Or are we going to say we need to have <v Sylvia Peters>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 and I will say <v William Mitchell>it. I feel racism here at Dumas. <v William Mitchell>I have seen the children harassed and harangued teachers on the third floor <v William Mitchell>for no apparent reason 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. <v William Mitchell>Not necessarily, but in the parents. <v Royal Kennedy>Mitchell's resignation leaves the parents stunned.

<v Parent>Mr. Mitchell, I implore you. <v Parent>This school is moving. <v Parent>And if you leave, it's gonna hurt us a lot. <v Parent>OK. We need you. <v Speaker>I fight racism because I don't like it perpetrated against me and I <v Speaker>don't like it. If it's unfair when it's being perpetrated against me, it is unfair what <v Speaker>is being perpetrated against you. And that is not the way of the world. <v Speaker>That is not the way of the world. It is not okay for children to disrespect you or <v Speaker>anybody else. It is not 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 <v Speaker>to school with and that these are not necessarily things that we as teachers <v Speaker>can give them. We can make an effort. <v Speaker>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>If the children's behavior was so appalling, I expect <v Parent>a note home or something.

<v Parent>The parent sneed to know that their child's contact is unacceptable. <v Parent>But it is a parent's responsibility to get up to that school and find out. <v Parent>We have had a meeting every month since October and we <v Parent>have not had such a turnout. <v Parent>But I'm glad you're here because you need to know that you're welcome and you need <v Parent>to come back here. If this needs to be a better place you have to make sure <v Parent>that this is going on. <v Royal Kennedy>At Dumas, the furor over the luncheon cancelation is a blessing in disguise, <v Royal Kennedy>for it represents what the council and Chicago school reform is all about. <v Royal Kennedy>Parents becoming directly involved in school policies and <v Royal Kennedy>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 gonna let the school slide down the tube. <v Sylvia Peters>If everything went along well, you would begin

<v Sylvia Peters>to question what is their real life in this school, and that <v Sylvia Peters>situation let me know that there is real, 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 Peggy Bartlett>To be able to govern ourselves, to be able to manage our building, to <v Peggy Bartlett>to fit a make a program that's tailored for purely for us. <v Peggy Bartlett>Nothing wears like a tailor made suit. <v Peggy Bartlett>Something that's made just for you, just for your community, <v Peggy Bartlett>just for your students. <v Royal Kennedy>But can 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. <v Royal Kennedy>Chicago school reform is a revolution that the whole world is watching. <v Speaker>[Pomp and Circumstance plays] <v Ted Kimbrough>I think the 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 governance 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 that <v George Munoz>loss 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 gonna 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. <v William Ayers>We have a different idea. 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, it's slow. <v Joan Jeter Slay>It doesn't pay attention to their lands. <v Joan Jeter Slay>It kind of fumbles along, but oh, it works. <v Joan Jeter Slay>And this is gonna work too.