CPS President Vitale, CEO Byrd-Bennett and Rahm do the counting.
Anne and I are still on the road.
Still I want to wish my Park Ridge District 64 colleagues all the best as they start the new school year with students arriving in their classrooms today.
It is only two years since I retired, but it is a little odd when I think about the last grade of kindergarten students that I taught on now entering third grade and the third graders I last taught are starting middle school today.
Speaking of a little odd.
Rahm and Barbara Byrd-Bennett had their public relations department write up a campaign flyer and the Sun-Times printed iit as an op-ed piece touting CPS graduation rates.
The latest evidence of that progress is a record high school graduation rate of 69.4 percent for the last school year, a 4 percent increase from just a year ago. It may not sound like much that 7 out of 10 CPS students are graduating from high school — until you compare it to the 58.3 percent who were graduating just three years ago.
That is good news!
Three years ago?
Back in June of 2012 Jean-Claude Brizard, Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s predecessor, made a similar announcement.
Chicago Public Schools announced Saturday that more than 60 percent of their 2007-2008 freshmen graduated last year, calling it a history-making record.
The current administration has only been in place for a year and therefore can take no credit for the increase in graduation rates. However, CPS spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler says the news can provide “great momentum going into next year.”
More than 60%. Not 58%.
There’s an old Chicago saying about elections. It’s not how many votes you get. It’s who does the counting.
It seems true about graduation rates as well.
Fred Klonsky 