The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/article/0,2669,SAV-0105270018,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- On to the next revolution Six years ago, Gery Chico took on a massively daunting assignment from Mayor Richard Daley: Blow up the bloated, corrupt and utterly failed Chicago Public Schools system, and start over. It has been a dizzy and exhilarating ride, and for Chico it has ended with his surprise disclosure Thursday that he is stepping down as president of the Chicago Board of Education. Gery Chico, bravo. Chico brought guts and a no-nonsense business sense to the struggling schools. He took political risks--reform of bilingual education, the end of social promotion--and prevailed. He supported charter schools in an effort to inject some competitive tension into a system used to running more like the U.S. Postal Service than Federal Express. Goals were established for schools, teachers and students, with the understanding that failure would bring consequences. Chico and schools CEO Paul Vallas took over the education system in 1995, at a time when a previous incarnation of school reform was on life support. School facilities were near-slums after decades of disinvestment and disinterest by the city and the state. A Chicago high school diploma was of questionable worth. Finances were a disaster and labor relations so bad that teacher strikes were almost an annual ritual. Mayor Richard Daley's selection of Vallas and Chico to turn that around was genius. Vallas' intense, frenetic style and constant search for new ideas was counterbalanced by Chico's calmer, businesslike demeanor. They're both a bit thin-skinned, and their battles with each other have been legendary. But the fact is they complemented each other. Most important, they brought accountability and results--two key business practices--into a bureaucracy that for decades had run on the concept of ubi est meum? rather than what's best for the kids? Since the appointment of Vallas and Chico, the city has invested about $2.65 billion to repair old schools and build new ones. School finances have stabilized sufficiently to earn an upgrade from New York bond raters. Chico leaves, however, at a time when there is a sense that school reform is losing steam, that student improvement has hit a plateau, and that some of the old ways of doing business are creeping back. The schools have won national acclaim, but there's a sense that, while they may have helped to stall the flight of parents and children from the city, they haven't lured them into the city. One of the critics is none other than Mayor Daley, who questioned the other day whether an underground system of social promotion has quietly taken hold. Maybe this was inevitable. Revolutionary fervor is difficult to sustain. So it's fair to say the first revolution is largely complete. Chico is leaving. There's speculation that Vallas will move on to a new challenge within the next year. Their tenure has presented Daley with his most significant accomplishment as mayor. He now faces his most significant challenge: launching a second revolution in Chicago education. It starts with a successor to Gery Chico. That should be someone who is not personally vested in the past successes--someone who can take the cold and critical eye toward the status quo that Vallas and Chico did six years ago. Someone who understands that educators don't have all the answers and that financial stability is critical to the schools' progress. Someone who won't wither under pressure, and who understands the cooperative atmosphere surrounding the schools may be about to end. The announcement Friday that Chicago Teachers Union President Thomas Reece was defeated by a rival slate is an ominous sign. This is no time to slip backward. Children's futures are at stake--435,000 of them. ---------------------------------------------------- This is the CPS Mathematics Teacher Discussion List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
