Through the Looking Glass With Mayor Daley

Dear Mayor Daley,

I trust you saw the morning papers today. The Chicago Sun-Times just published its 2009 rankings of 656 public high schools across Illinois. You've had absolute control over Chicago's public schools since 1995, so you undoubtedly know that the Sun-Times ranks high schools each year based upon average scores on certain state achievement tests. I'm also willing to bet my Arne Duncan-autographed basketball that you weren't surprised to see Fenger High School sitting, once again, near the bottom of the newspaper's list. To be fair, the school did move up a notch in this year's rankings, checking in at number 654 out of 656 schools.

I'm not an educator, sir, so I'm hoping you can explain something to me.

How did you manage to keep a straight face yesterday, when you told members of the Chicago media that Fenger High School is "a very good school"?

Let me come at it this way. If you were raising teenagers in the city, would you enroll them at Fenger today? Are you actively encouraging any of your teenage nieces and nephews to consider Fenger for their high school years? Mr. Mayor, could you, in your wildest dreams, imagine putting any kid that you and your wife know and love on a CTA bus each day to attend Fenger during the 2009-10 school year?

I didn't think so. And we both know why that's the case.

It's because Fenger is not what you or I -- or just about anyone else in Chicago -- would consider "a very good school." Maybe it will become one someday, but it certainly isn't one right now. You obviously didn't think it was a very good school earlier this year when your hand-picked Board of Education voted to "reconstitute" Fenger by firing all teachers and staff and making them reapply for their jobs. I'm sure you also knew about the February 2009 public hearing before that vote, during which one of your high-ranking CPS officials stated that Fenger had been on probation for the past thirteen years. That's right -- thirteen years. In other words, as of February 2009, Fenger had been on probation for nearly the entire period of time that you had been in charge of Chicago's school system.

So at what point between February 2009 and October 2009 did Fenger become "a very good school"? Are you planning to invite Secretary Duncan, Attorney General Holder and Derrion Albert's mother to Fenger to watch you hang the "Mission Accomplished" banner in the school gymnasium?

Let's get real. It's no secret that kids who attend Fenger fight an uphill battle every step of the way. For many of these students, it's a dicey proposition just trying to get to and from school safely. Moreover, nearly all of the Fenger kids -- 98.8% of them as of 2008 -- come from low-income families. That fact alone puts most of these young people behind the eight-ball before they ever step foot in a kindergarten classroom.

Need more? In 2008, the average Fenger student was absent for 56 days (or nearly one-third) of the school year. With that level of absenteeism, it should be no surprise that so few of the kids who start at Fenger ever graduate. And based on Fenger's average ACT scores (the average score was 14 in 2008), it doesn't appear that many of those who make it through senior year leave Fenger with the tools needed to succeed in college.

The sad reality is that there are still too many under-performing schools like Fenger in our deeply segregated city, and there are no easy solutions to urban poverty. But I am also confident that there are parents, students, teachers and staff at Fenger today who are doing all they can on a daily basis to help Fenger become "a very good school."

So, Mr. Mayor, don't insult their efforts or the collective intelligence of Chicago's taxpayers by telling us that Fenger High School is, at present, anything other than a work in progress.

Sincerely,
Matt Farmer

 

Comments

[ejhickey]

Good article. The Mayor should called out when his statements depart from reality. the problems of Fenger HS and the rest of the problems in this City cannot be solved as long as the Mayor and City Hall refuse and recognize problems because the are afraid of the political consequences of telling the truth.

Two relatives of mine attended Fenger HS in the 1930s and 1960s . From what they tell me , Fenger, at that time was a good school with a high attendance rate and a high rate of people who went on to college. Hopefully it will come back, but that won't happen as long as politicians play make believe.

[DASChicago]

I take acception to much of what is said these days by the Mayor. The glossing over tactics are not quite what I consider solution managment. Sadly, complacency is all that I can label him and his administration.
Besides, I can't quite put my finger on it, but, how the heck does an appointee (one person) get's recycled from the Police Department, to the head the CTA then to the Chicago Public Schools??
Perplexing?!

[Matt Farmer - Huffpost Blogger]

Don't forget about Mr. Huberman's stint as Mayor Daley's chief of staff.

[47th]

This is a typical statement from a Daley when they are forced to deal with a problem that the y can't solve, or are not interested in solving. Do you all remember when Richard J. Daley used to say that there were no "Slums" in Chicago back in the 1960s? Well, this is the same type of response from his son. Daley is just counting the days till this Fengert story goes away, and with Chicago's spineless media, it will go away as soon as they tire of it!

[bigfated]

I was educated in the Chicago Public School system.......a very long time ago. In those days I didn't think much about the quality of our schools, but when I graduated....in 1952...I truly felt I had received a rather good education. But I understand now that i was far more fortunate than i realized, in that I was NEVER afraid of being seriously hurt or killed by other young people These students of today are truly being cheated. How can we expect kids to concentrate and do their very best when the sound of gunshots is almost routine around so many of Chicago's schools?

We have really lost something, and today's students, certainly in the so-called "inner city," are no less than amazing when they do succeed....considering how the deck is stacked against them.
Were I a parent with a child in Fenger and heard the Mayor's comments, I would be heartsick. Failure to recognize AND address the problems suggests that the Mayor may not care about these kids as much as he would have us believe. And I am not ordinarily one to criticize Mayor Daley....but I think he has let us down in terms of the safety of these young people. I hope SOMEONE finds some answers. Soon. .

[Matt Farmer - Huffpost Blogger]

I certainly don't blame Mayor Daley for teenage mothers, absentee fathers, a general decline in civility, or a whole host of other societal ills that have caused us to "lose" a generation of kids. That said, his statement about Fenger suggests (1) a profound detachment from reality, (2) a troubling penchant for mendacity, or (3) a dangerous combination of both.