From: Cayata Dixon -------------------- School chief ends Vallas crackdown -------------------- Duncan halting teacher firings By Ray Quintanilla and Michael Martinez, Tribune education reporters. Tribune staff reporter Gary Washburn contributed to this report August 8, 2001 Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan and his top aides say the school system will end the practice of singling out teachers for summary firing--a controversial sanction former schools chief Paul Vallas launched last year in a last ditch effort to turn around the system's worst high schools. Duncan's decision to back away from so-called "intervention," a draconian measure the General Assembly granted in 1995 to deal with underperforming schools, comes after Duncan has been at the helm of the nation's third largest public school system for slightly more than a month. But the surprise move also raises serious questions, none more pressing than what will become of the 29 teachers Vallas' five high school intervention teams identified as bad and in need of firing. "Last year, it wasn't always clear who was on first base," Duncan said, referring to the way the teacher review process unfolded. "I want to find the best ways to use our scarce resources and support our teachers, principals and students." Under Duncan's plan, Vallas' intervention teams will be disbanded. The dozen or so staffers--including intervention officer Jo Ann Roberts--will be reassigned, senior aides said. Wilfredo Ortiz, director of high school development, is slated to oversee a scaled down intervention effort. As recently as two weeks ago, Roberts defended intervention, saying it was working well. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday. School employees answering the phone at her office Tuesday said the intervention office had been disbanded. The five high schools targeted for intervention--Bowen, Collins, South Shore, DuSable and Orr--posted some of the worst reading scores in May. At Collins, for instance, where Duncan convened a closed meeting Tuesday with parents and faculty members, only 4.9 percent of its students read at grade level. Bowen, on the South Side, saw scores fall, with 10.4 percent reading at grade level. Orr, on the West Side, had 10.7 percent of its students reading at national norms. Earlier in the school year, Roberts had promised to get 75 percent of the five schools' students reading at grade level. Of the 300-plus teachers working in the five high schools, 65 teachers left the schools voluntarily--a figure that union leaders said was low. The cost to staff the system's intervention efforts totaled $2 million. An additional $2.4 million was spent on textbooks and $24 million was spent on repairs at the five schools, Roberts said recently. New Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch characterized intervention as poorly planned and humiliating to teachers. She expressed those concerns to Duncan in a private meeting last week. Duncan told her that he was going to hold meetings at each of the five high schools, which he has been doing since Saturday, to discuss possible alternatives or alterations. In another development, Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday stood by Duncan despite criticism from Rev. Jesse Jackson and others that Duncan lacked the proper experience to become CEO. Daley was reluctant to criticize Jackson, but under repeated questioning by reporters, quipped that the controversial civil rights leader "sits in judgment of everyone. He can criticize. I accept criticism." Copyright (c) 2001, Chicago Tribune -------------------- Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune Today! Good Eating, Your Place, and TV Week -- just a few reasons to get the Chicago Tribune at home every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Subscribe by calling 1-800-TRIBUNE (1-800-874-2863) or online at chicagotribune.com/subscribe -- This is the CPS Science Teacher 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/>
