School on West Montrose Avenue

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Stockton was not a good school, and it was technically part of the massive school closure that just happened this past year. Howevever, the Stockton building will remain open as a school, and will be combined with the nearby Courtenay Elementary, and will be renamed Courtenay. I have friends who had their kids at Courtenay in past years, a much smaller school with good test scores, who will now be attending school in the much larger Stockton building with a bunch of troubled kids from Uptown. Many Courtenay parents are really pissed off about this, and feel like CPS pulled a fast one on them at the last minute. Courtenay was never on the closure list because technically it will be relocated to Stockton, but in reality it will not be the same school that it was.

CPS School Closings: Crowded Courtenay a Surprise Target - Ravenswood - DNAinfo.com Chicago

I really feel awful for parents that are being whipsawed by the insanity of CPS. I ran into a pal today in SW Michigan. His daughter is a high school teacher at one of the more desirable CPS sites and she has decided to send her own son to a private school for 1st grade despite having a good experience last year in kindergarten. She and her partner are the really committed to city living types so this came as kind of shock to me but it does harken back to days of yore when pretty much all CPS teachers that lived in the city (back when there were still lots of grandfathered employees living in Oak Park or other nice suburbs...) sent their kids to private / parochial schools. CPS is really turning back the clock in a bad way.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I really feel awful for parents that are being whipsawed by the insanity of CPS.

From what I've heard about this Courtenay mess, the parents only had a few weeks to react to the news before the start of the school year. The parents I know really feel betrayed by CPS, and will be pulling their kids out as soon as they can. But most didn't have enough time to make alternative plans for the upcoming school year.

One bit of insight that Chet has offered again and again on this forum that is really excellent, in my opinion, is the discussion about local control of schools in smaller districts. This can be a blessing or a curse depending on the parents that live in the district (ask Dolton or Harvey how local control has affected their school system). But if you can live in a community where the majority of parents value education and get involved, it will have a very good effect on the quality of education.

I know parents that were involved in "flipping" Nettelhorst about ten years ago, and they continued to be frustrated with CPS through the entire process, Kindergarten through 8th grade. They had a lot invested in the school, and would continuously but heads with the administration to get things changed. I hope the people who send their kids to the school now understand the work that went in to improving the school, and realize that it can all be whisked away with the stroke of a pen at CPS headquarters.