Fred Klonsky’s PREA Prez Blog

skoolboy.

skoolboy, who is filling in for Eduwonkette while she is away, wrote a piece the other day on the CPS school boycott calling it a protest and a publicity stunt.

I disagreed and said so.

skoolboy responded on his site:

Both Fred and Mike Klonsky are irate at my characterization of the boycott/protest as simultaneously a principled protest and a publicity stunt. skoolboy’s writing from the relative comfort of New York, quite a distance away from the action, and with no children in CPS who are getting shortchanged by the existing funding inequalities.

I’m a strong supporter of protest movements in education, and not just the ones we all know about. And I admire people who act on their principles and beliefs. When I described the Chicago event as a publicity stunt, I had two things in mind. First, I believed that there was no realistic possibility that any CPS child would be successfully registered to attend New Trier. One might not think that it’s fair that this would be the outcome, but the fact that it was, in my mind, a foregone conclusion made the effort a stunt. Second, as I mention in the post, New Trier is off the charts relative to the spending in the higher-income districts in Illinois. The use of such an extreme case as the site for the protest also contributed to my characterization of it as partly a stunt.

As many readers know, the pendulum in school finance has swung from equity to adequacy. I’m not crazy about the fact that in most states, wealthy districts are able to spend more educating their kids than poorer districts. But I’m especially concerned that all children attend schools with the resources needed to provide them with an adequate education. “Adequate” is a normative term, but I would set the bar quite high in defining it, and holding government accountable for providing the needed resources.

Just a few points.

I disagreed with skoolboy. But nothing in my post suggested I was “irate.” In fact, while the tone of posting and e-mails can often be misinterpreted, I have asked around. Nobody I know thought I sounded irate. Most thought I was unusually pleasant.

Secondly, nothing in what I wrote suggested skoolboy couldn’t have a view about the boycott because he didn’t live in Chicago. I remember Leo Casey attacking me for having a view about stuff in New York, claiming I was disqualified because I was “a 1,000 miles away.” Dumb argument.

But skoolboy’s view that the criteria for being a stunt was that Meeks knew the CPS kids would not be admitted to New Trier.

When SNCC escorted people to the court houses in Mississippi to register to vote in 1963, they knew that the segregationists would not allow them to register at the time. Was it a stunt or a political protest?

The kids have done their part.

On Tuesday, CPS students headed to New Trier High School on Chicago’s tony North Shore to demonstrate the funding inequalities that pervade Illinois’ public schools. They were warmly received by New Trier students, parents and teachers..

On Wednesday they headed for Chicago’s giant downtown corporate headquarters and the Mayor’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall, the same Mayor who called Senator James Meeks “selfish” on Tuesday.

Wednesday, the Mayor backed off and protested that he had been “misquoted” and that the funding battle wasn’t between him and Meeks.

Also on Wednesday, Meeks and the other ministers and community leaders who organized the boycott agreed to end it. Promising to insure that every child would be in their class on Thursday, they then sent the issue back to the governor and legislature.

What will the politicians do now? The kids have done their part.

Governor Blago is the great chess player.

Over a thousand Chicago Public School students plus parents and supporters traveled to New Trier yesterday and were warmly welcomed, according to press reports, by North Shore students, teachers and parents. All see a common need to reform the way schools are funded in Illinois.

All except the governor. Reported the Trib:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said students “should not be used as political pawns.”

Man, that’s rich. The governor, Speaker Madigan and Senate President Jones have spent their careers using the students of Illinois as their political pawns.

The governor was joined by Mayor Daley who sputtered something about Senator Meeks being selfish.

But the common bond between students wasn’t effected by the stupidity of politicians.

Reported the Sun-Times:

As students and parents began arriving at New Trier, they were greeted by a huge sign pasted on the school’s windows. It read: “Welcome to New Trier, CPS students.”

About 100 staff and volunteers stood ready inside the Northfield campus building to process students — a largely symbolic event because the CPS students would need to have proof of residency in the district to attend classes there. New Trier officials said an estimated 950 CPS students tried to register.

Almost without exception, CPS students said they were treated warmly by their hosts.

In fact, Kathy Miller, a New Trier parent, said she and other North Shore residents had formed a group to explore the issue of school funding inequities.

Selfish, Kathy. Very selfish.

Meanwhile my brother taught politics and economics on the bus to the North Shore. Read about his experience and the experience of the students who he rode the bus with.